Transfer case actuator motor gear.

[SlickGT1]

Originally Posted by lhordmclain

Edit: Given 2 years since you did the alternative "free" solution

How many miles after that?

At least you can tell the story whether "flipping the gear 180 degrees" was short term fix or can even last longer ( wild a** guess equal or greater than 30,000miles)

No, not there yet. 14k miles about. Not one issue so far. That gear, essentially only uses about 30% of its surface. Flipping it over 180 should essentially give it new life. Yea I won't be able to flip it in 70k miles, but right now I am confident it will hold up. Quite a few dirt road experiences and snow, not even a hickup.

[davintosh]

Funny, I was just talking with Jeff from Odometer Gears about this issue a few weeks ago (met him at the Vintage show in NC); he sells an improved replacement gear for that. I'm still not sure if my X5 even has that actuator; looking at the drawings in RealOEM, it looks like there were two transfer cases used -- ATC 500, which has the actuator, and NV 125, without. I need to crawl under the thing and have a look; Jeff thought they all had the actuator, but I sure don't remember seeing that wart on the back of the case when I've been under there before.

Odometer Gears - BMW - X5 (E53) 1999-2007

NV 125


ATC 500

[lhordmclain]

Amazing testament by SlickGt1. As always thanks for sharing.

Hopefully other owners (with actuator gear issue) will have the same success story to share in this thread! Keep it coming.

To the OP, looking forward hearing from you in the next few days / week(s) or so.

[SlickGT1]

pretty sure this only applies to X drive models. That would be the ATC 500, and you can actually see it in the picture. Right next to the output flange for the rear wheels.

[jv2000]

Thanks for the feedback on this. I've seen some posts in which people did the gear flip and said it slipped back into the worn out portion after a time. Hard to tell what they did or did not do wrong.

My gear certainly looked totally unused on one side when i pulled it, it still had the original green lube on the non-worn side:



The worn side is exactly 180 degrees on the bottom in that photo but you can't tell it's worn in that picture.

I opted to replace the gear all together just to be sure I didn't have to mess with it again for another 60k miles or so ...

Originally Posted by SlickGT1

No, not there yet. 14k miles about. Not one issue so far. That gear, essentially only uses about 30% of its surface. Flipping it over 180 should essentially give it new life. Yea I won't be able to flip it in 70k miles, but right now I am confident it will hold up. Quite a few dirt road experiences and snow, not even a hickup.

[lhordmclain]

So far it's an even 50/50 (with 2 documented incidents in this thread)..
The tie breaker will be the OP

But come to think it, SlickGT1 (2yrs and 14,000 miles), the free solution, it will allow the owner to set aside money to buy a genuine BMW new actuator @ approx 750 USD (with two years warranty), and have a back up (old one, replacing the gear) or vice versa repair the gear , then consider a new actuator as the 2nd choice.

Originally Posted by jv2000

Thanks for the feedback on this. I've seen some posts in which people did the gear flip and said it slipped back into the worn out portion after a time. Hard to tell what they did or did not do wrong.

My gear certainly looked totally unused on one side when i pulled it, it still had the original green lube on the non-worn side:



The worn side is exactly 180 degrees on the bottom in that photo but you can't tell it's worn in that picture.

I opted to replace the gear all together just to be sure I didn't have to mess with it again for another 60k miles or so ...

[SlickGT1]

I have a feeling that the people that get the issue to come back, simply failed to flip the gear 180.

I was meticulous about that, and before I pulled anything out, I marked up the original location of the gear, against the body. This also made me realize that when you insert the motor back into the actuator body, the gear actually turns quite a significant amount. It took me a few tries to get it to lign up 100% 180 from before I took the motor out.

I also didn't even bother taking off the plate that held the gear inside. That was the other reason to make sure it is well marked up.

When this gear dies, I will replace the gear only. While I had the motor out of the body, I inspected the brushes and the coil, everything looked great.

[jv2000]

I absolutely agree that replacing the entire motor (and spending $800 for it) seems really unnecessary. Unless there is something noticeably wrong with the motor housing, brushes, worm gear, etc. the obvious point of failure is the worn gear. Replacing it makes the unit good as new.

The very loud clicking noise that you get just after turning off the car tells you the motor is still good, it's turning the worm gear but not engaging due to the worn out gear teeth on the nylon wheel.

[cn90]

Ebay has some sellers listing the plastic gear for $59 or so:

BMW E53 x5 E83 x3 Transfer Case Motor Gear 27 10 7 566 296gr Heavy Duty | eBay

What is everyone's experience re: brand name?

[jv2000]

Amazon has a reasonably priced one also, reviews there are excellent:
BMW E53 X5 E83 X3 Transfer Case Motor Gear 27 10 7 566 296GR Carbon Fiber Reinforced Nylon

I got mine from Odometer Gears: www.odometergears.com

The fit was perfect and the part was great quality, though generally twice the price of some of the other options. I can't really compare to the cheaper options as I have not seen or used those (yet).