Transfer Case is Toast

[srmmmm]

Glad you found those worn splines before you encountered a "no-go" situation. Mine was not pleasant and ruined a perfectly good day of bringing a new PWC home. They don't hold up well on the 3.0 engine either!

2002 X5 3.0 243,000 miles
2004 325i 108,000 miles

[sethhatfield]

Here are some links to pics of the removal and disassembly. The aft bearing is noisy so it is on order from Cobra.
image | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
image | Flickr - Photo Sharing!image | Flickr - Photo Sharing!image | Flickr - Photo Sharing!image | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[J.Belknap]

If it's not too much trouble a parts list and cost breakdown would be appreciated!

[sethhatfield]

So far I've needed:

front shaft $600+
front rag joint $120
output shaft bearing $30
chain $80

I had to buy a 3 jaw puller, though I could have rented one from Autozone.

[civdiv99]

Which part did ya chuck at the airplane.

Originally Posted by sethhatfield

You can see a close up of the forward drive shaft splines. Note that BMW thought the way too short drive shaft would be just fine on a 4500 lb SUV with 350 ft/lbs of torque.

[J.Belknap]

Thanks Seth. Good luck with the rest.

[TiAgX5]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

x2 listen to Gregory on this, thankfully Cobra Trans knows the NV125 well and can help you get it running again in good shape!

+1 on Cobra Trans. If you check e-bay they usually have rebuild kits at a discount.

[sethhatfield]

Here is the latest. Assembled the case. You cannot do this without a three jaw puller in my opinion! An impact wrench is definitely necessary too.
transfer case 002 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
transfer case 001 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[sedc]

Nice work.

I have almost 40k on the CT chain replacement job I did in '11 on my (then new to me) '03, it's a solid part so far. That was after driving the X 500 miles home from buying it without a drop of oil in the tcase (unbeknownst to me). Mine needed only a chain and a lot of cleaning, the rest of that case is bulletproof.

I threw spacers on the front driveshaft at the same time (and lubricated the heck out of the splines) to help prevent that awful driveshaft wear.

[sethhatfield]

Well I got it all put back together after a little setback. The new longer driveshaft is about a 1/4 inch too long to install if the transfer case is installed onto the transmission. I jacked with it for awhile and finally cut a 1/4 inch off the new shaft. It is still over an inch longer than the original and works fine.

I drove it around and flogged it pretty hard and the popping is gone!

There is still a whurring noise coming from somewhere up front. I have no idea where. It sounds like it could be coming from the front differential or something.