Effcient weekend, only rear bushes left. help buying tool.

[Hal72]

After a lot of reading and help form all the DIY guides here I did get my hands dirty.

- replaced both front axles

This was the major task, but was done in less than 3 hours. The left side was almost too easy. Just take off wheel, collar nut, lower wishbone, hammer and pull axle out, pop in new and reassembly. took under 30 min!
If you can change you brake I will say you can do this job.

- Changed transmission fluid

The oil was in fact not bad, no bad smell and no particles, the kit from esctuning was great.

- Change front differential fluid

Did not find any info on this, but the fill and drain plug was easy to locate and did just replace it with the recommended castrol diff oil.

- Changed motor oil and filter

Same as with the petrol engine, so the filter was in the same place

- Fixed front door carrier handle

My front door did not open from the outside, so assumed as many have experience here it was broken. bought the part and it was broken. so new installed and got some oil on the inside to prevent the frozen door lock problem.

- and some small jobs, new turn signal bulb, replace the trunk lid grip, LED light kit inside and some new weather tech mats..

Feels like I got a new car, and this forum is really the best knowledge source.

All that is left is the rear subframe bushes.

I think I will go for the meyle bushes or are the OEM bushes much better!?

I will also buy the special tools, and the cheapest I found is this:

BMW E38 E39 E52 E53 E60 E61 Rear Axles Bush Removal Installer Bushing Tool | eBay

or should I go for the "standard":

BMW E53 Rear Subframe Bushing Tool Set | eBay

The tools is a bit expensive, but it seems the job will be much easier.

[upallnight]

Two different tools for two different type of bushings. Which bushings are you looking to replace?

[Hal72]

RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 3.0d REAR AXLE CARRIER

part 2, The rubber mounting on the subframe. (so the cheap one is for a different part)

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by Hal72

RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 3.0d REAR AXLE CARRIER

part 2, The rubber mounting on the subframe. (so the cheap one is for a different part)

Yep. Look at the axle suspension diagram and you will see the control arms with the other type of bushings.

[admranger]

what year is your X5? Did you change the front and rear differential oil? What about the transfer case? You have to be careful with the transfer case oil as there was a change when they went to the "x-drive". There's also an electronic reset that needs to be done once you put in new fluid in an "x-drive" transfer case. The "x-drive" fluid is about $50/liter. Fortunately, if I remember correctly, you only need one liter...

[Hal72]

My X is 2003, did just the differential. it had some small oil stripes on the outside. so I changed the oil to see if there was little inside. but it was almost a litre. Is the transfer case something you would recommend to changes as well. have you done it.

[davintosh]

Originally Posted by Hal72

BMW E38 E39 E52 E53 E60 E61 Rear Axles Bush Removal Installer Bushing Tool | eBay

or should I go for the "standard":

BMW E53 Rear Subframe Bushing Tool Set | eBay

The tools is a bit expensive, but it seems the job will be much easier.

The first tool you linked is for R&R of #7 and #9 on the RealOEM diagram. I bought the second one you listed, and it works great. I've been renting it out to members, and I would offer to rent to you, but it just went out to another member yesterday, plus the trip to Norway & back might be a bit lengthy and expensive!

FWIW, there is someone in the UK who rents this tool out; here's the eBay listing. Might be the same one that X5girl used in his excellent DIY thread.

Here's a time-lapse video of me using the tool for the first time. That was actually the second bushing I replaced; did the first one with a home-built tool, which was painfully slow (about 4 hours, on top of several hours of fabrication to make the stupid thing), and ended up with the tool pretty much unusable. The Baum Tools unit was expensive, but I got that second one done in less than an hour (even after installing the bushing wrong, having to pull it & reinstall), and the other two in about an hour for both.

I'm putting the finishing touches on a DIY to add to my rental thread; keep an eye out for that a little later today --> http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...ol-rental.html. It's a pretty straightforward job though. Given what you've already done, this should be very easy.

[Hal72]

Thanks for tips and offer about renting, but I bought the secon tool. With the bushes it is still cheaper than a pro shop doing the job. And I can always try to sell it after.

I had already seen the time-lapse video, so cool it was you and it gives a good idea about how to do the job.

I am looking forward to the DIY, did you replace some of the stoppers and/or bolts!?

[davintosh]

The stoppers and bolts were all in almost perfect shape, and only needed a little cleaning up before reinstalling. I did replace one bottom stopper though; one of the nuts holding the muffler bracket was seized on it's stud, and the stud broke loose from the stopper. I stuck a small bolt & nut in there to hold it together until I got a replacement stopper. It was about $20 US.

Also, there was a little surface rust on the subframe; cleaned that up with a wire brush and touched up the paint on it.

[Hal72]

Good to know, maybe I buy some bolts and a stopper just in case:-)