All in - pulling the 4.6 engine and trans to fix oil leaks once and for all

[stunt]

Here's what the Bentley states about front axle removal. So yes, it looks like the outer housing of the inner CV joint should slip off the diff.

In my case, the axle piece slipped out of the housing effortlessly, there was nothing at all holding it back. Will be interesting to see if the other side is the same way. I know the previous owner did mentioned he had just had extensive front end work done at an indy shop. Maybe I should try to track down which one and get a complete service record.



I probably should have marked the relationship between the axle and inner joint before pulling it out.

[e30cabrio]

I had fun r&ring my passenger side axle on my back in my garage. It comes out with a pry bar without much fuss, getting it back in all the way was harder. I ended up putting the hub assay back on it & using it for leverage. Took me 2 days to think of that.

[Giznaz]

Doesn't the engine/transmission/front axle just unbolt from the body, and drop as a unit?

That is how they go together, they call it the "marriage" when they slip it into the body.

Wouldn't that separation be easier than the disassembly you are doing?

[bcredliner]

4.6 does not come with spacers.

I added 18mm spacers to fill the wheels better and as part of aftermarket handling improvements I made. No issues because of the spacers. Did have to get it aligned. Depending on where you buy tires some stores will not touch a vehicle with spacers that are not bolted to the rotor (as pictured) and don't have longer lug bolts.

[stunt]

I might get some longer bolts and keep the spacers. It does give it a more aggressive stance. I ran them on my M5 (with longer bolts) and it was also lowered.

I suppose I could have dropped the front sub-frame, but I would still have had to separate the struts from the steering knuckles, or released the strut tops from the fenders, and I'm sure that would have been a lot of alignment issues to deal with.

Thanks for the tip on prying out the inner CV joint outer shell. Worked like a champ.



I'll clean out all the old grease and repack with the correct stuff.

[racingbmwm3]

You are missing a bolt from your crank pulley, did you do that? Also, I was expecting to see 13mm hex bolts, not torx bolts there, but it seems that BMW may have changed bolt style around 2003, so those may be stock...
http://www.xoutpost.com/article/E53%...ankpulley1.jpg

[stunt]

Originally Posted by racingbmwm3

You are missing a bolt from your crank pulley, did you do that?

I wish it was just missing. The head snapped off one of the bolts when I replaced the water pump. I plan to replace all 8 bolts while I have the engine out. Hopefully it will be easy to get that snapped bolt out of the vibration damper.

[racingbmwm3]

Originally Posted by stunt

I wish it was just missing. The head snapped off one of the bolts when I replaced the water pump. I plan to replace all 8 bolts while I have the engine out. Hopefully it will be easy to get that snapped bolt out of the vibration damper.

Once you get the crank pulley off it should be much easier to remove the broken bolt.

[bcredliner]

I prefer to use screw down hose clamps wherever possible. Just need to be careful not to screw them down too tight.

[racingbmwm3]

screw down clamps in this diameter would have too wide of a band. You'd also be throwing your balance off by a few grams...