Steering column lower joint.

[diyanich]

Hi Guys,

I just replaced my universal joint.
First thing I noticed that an older one had 4 pieces together,while a new one is made of 2 pieces.
The steering wheel is finally tight and has no play.
After I took a closer look at the old column and my conclusion was that I should've left an old one and saved myself $400 bucks.
Why,you may ask...
Well,after inspecting what was causing the play,I found out that it was a rectangular pin getting loose inside of the upper part of the universal joint.
It's the only place where german engineers used no splines and corners were getting spent after so many kms and potholes.
What drew my attention is that there was some lock tight used,I have no idea if it comes like that from the factory or not,but there it was.No brainer why it was so difficult to undo them and now TIS recommendation to pass a tap before re fastening.
So after cleaning all the torx bolts and re torquing them to TIS values,I found absolutely no play.
So,if you have an older X5 with a rubber boot on the universal joint and a black shaft that fits the steering rack.Then undo the plug in the boot,remove the torx bolt,clean it and try re torquing it to 24Nm and check for any remaining play.
I hope that helps.