SOLVED - Transfer Case Problem???

[ChevDog1]

Saturday night, my wife was driving the X, and stopped at the mailbox at th bottom of our hill. When she leaned over to open the mailbox, she accidentally stabbed the throttle, while she was already on the brake, and in gear. The X started making a loud grinding/rattling noise, and now will not move. any time you put it in any gear, it just makes the same rattling noise, but no drive.

I towed it up to the house yesterday, and plan on tearing into it in the evenings, as I have time. After doing some web searching yesterday, it appears that this is likely the infamous stripped splines on the front driveshaft. If this is the case, what is the least expensive fix? Money is a bit tight right now, and I would like to get this back on the road as cheaply as possible. This is my winter car, and they are predicting snow/ice on Saturday.

Thanks!

[JCL]

First, check the front driveshaft to make sure that is the problem. It is a likely one. If it is the splines, you can buy a replacement transfer case output shaft with longer splines. This isn't a dealer part, it is from a machine shop. Do a search on this forum and you will find the contacts to order the parts.

One such contact is racemalibu572. See this thread for his solution:

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...t-problem.html

[racingbmwm3]

+1 on the front driveshaft. Same thing happened with our 325iX many years ago.

[ChevDog1]

I'm going to try and find time to pull it apart to verify tonight. Just wanted to make sure that I was looking in the right place for the problem.

I have already contacted Tom (racemalibu) about his fix, and if this is in fact my problem, will probably be going that route. Kind of expensive for a little machined stub, but definitely more cost effective that a new propshaft and coupler!

On a side note... since I bought this car, flooring the gas from a dead stop has caused a bit of a rumbling noise. I was assuming that this was the transfer case drive chain, but am now wondering if the splines were slipping before. Is it possible for the splines to have slipped without complete failure until now, or should I be tearing into the transfer case while I have it out?

[ChevDog1]

Going through and updating a bunch of my old posts today. Realized that I am bad about completing a thread once I have solved a problem...

I fixed the front drive shaft back in February. Bought the extended spline unit from Florida and installed it without issue. It has been working fine ever since.

Looking forward to actually driving the car in the snow this year!

[thrillcat]

Better late than never! Thanks for the update!

[Ricky Bobby]

Did you go with Tom's solution or did you buy from Cobra Transmission? How many miles were on the X when you had to change it?

We might want to start one master thread so that we can definitively recommend to other NV125 owners when they really need to start looking to do it preventatively, in order to keep from damaging the case further when the shaft lets go.

[ChevDog1]

I bought the complete shaft assembly from Cobra. Car was at about 130,000 miles when the original shaft let go.

[David.X5]

Has anyone tried the vendors on eBay offering extended shafts? In the $170 range with a core.