Blown Up Front Diff

[Peezen]

Hey there,

I have a 2004 4.8is. So today I drove into a parking spot, and then when pulling out there was a grinding sound. I reversed back in and half way I lost movement. I waited a bit in park and then tried again and I was able to reverse back into the spot.

I noticed that there was a large puddle of dark ATF smelling liquid in the parking spot.

I had the X5 towed home and was barely able to limp it up the driveway. There are no codes.

I had a closer look at what was leaking and discovered that there was a huge hole blown out of the side of the front differential. I could see the gears inside and some twisted looking metal. The outside of the case looked a grenade had gone off inside!

I can source a replacement from a 4.6is, which seems to be the same part number, but my question is how hard a job is it to do. I haven’t been able to find any diys on it. Is this rare?

I have strong mechanics skills with the ability to pull engines, drop trannies, etc, but definitely would prefer to take on this task if there were some instructions to follow.

Thank you for reading