Anyone Here Replaced the Seals On Their LWX500 Transfer Case?

[tempest411]

Hello,


I have the LWX500 transfer case out of my '03. I intended to change the chain and the three seals. On the output shaft going to the front axle it appears that a pressed on dust shield prevents that sprocket/shaft assembly from being removed. What's the safest way to remove that dust shield without ruining it, if that can be done at all? Will the application of heat be enough to allow it to slip off the shaft? I might experiment with that unless I hear otherwise from anyone else that's been down this road. It looks like the rear output shaft might give me the same problem, though I haven't touched it yet outside of removing the drive shaft yoke. The World Wide Web seems to be devoid of information on this job, so I'm hoping someone out there has worked on theirs and just didn't care to post their experience.



I appreciate any help on this. I would just stop and order new pieces, but I need to have this back together in the next few days so, not enough time to wait for an order to come in! It would be a pity if I had to skip two of the three seals because of the dust shields..

[jbfrancis3]

Agree that its pressed on, per the parts diagrams in for some of the replacement parts: https://cobratransmission.com/BMW-NV...er-Case?page=2

Heat makes sense to me, maybe with a 3 jaw puller if there's enough room for a bite. Or after halves apart and just front side of case still capturing the shaft, tap on shaft and see if it drives out of the cover (maybe with some heat too)

[wpoll]

The seal kit includes the dust shield...

https://cobratransmission.com/bmw-x5...kit-55134035-1

[tempest411]

I ordered the individual seals, being unaware of any 'kit'.

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by tempest411

I ordered the individual seals, being unaware of any 'kit'.

Looks like the front shaft dust cover is available separately...

https://cobratransmission.com/BMW-X5-LWX-500-Dust-Cover

The rear shaft dust cover appears to be only sold with the rear flange.

[tempest411]

I discovered something that sort of forced my hand at punching out the front output shaft; a freeze/well plug was loose in the hollow cavity behind the splines. I gave the shaft a couple light whacks with a plastic mallet and to my surprise it came right out, without distorting the dust shield at all. I should have no problem reusing it. But now I have to source one 45mm plug, and one 36mm plug. The 36mm plug is the one on the inside of the shaft immediately behind the splines, but to fix it I had to remove the larger 45mm plug at the end of the shaft. This shouldn't be that big of a deal. It will also give me an opportunity to clean out all the rust-dust in it. I have no doubt it's from the condensate drain that sits right above the transfer case. I'm sure what happens is it drip down the front of the case and wicks in where the splines are. A dumb design error to be sure. Attached is a picture of the 36mm plug loose inside the hollow cavity behind the splines.

[80stech]

There seems to be a fair bit of wear on those splines.

[tempest411]

It looks worse than it is. I'll post a pic of the this part cleaned up later. I will have to reuse my original plugs, as no one stocks these nearby, and I don't have time to wait for an order to arrive.

[tempest411]

All cleaned up.

[jbfrancis3]

Yikes! Toast