You guys are gluttons for punishment doing the bearing job. When my front right started roaring, I did a little research and then turned it over to a competent local indy shop. The tech said it was one huge PITA, despite having the proper tools.

Can you give us an idea of how much this job cost from an indy?

Hardest part is probably removing the circlip. If you can change suspension components or a cv axle, you can do the front bearing. Once I get the cv joint out of the hub and remove the hub with a slide hammer and the circlip, it takes me less than 10 minutes to push out the bearing with my hydraulic knock out punch.

Funny. The circlip was not a problem for me. Getting the race off the hub stopped me cold... The circlip came out with just a little encouragement using a large circlip tool (after years of busting my knuckles I bought a Channellock 929 to complement the usual small one we probably all have)

Circlip is only a problem if water has enter behind the hub and rust have formed between the circlip and grove in the bearing hub. I use an air hammer with a very blunt nose to rattle the circlip and try to bust the circlip loose from the bearing hub.

A good set of bearing hub separator would have pulled that race off the hub.

What's a good brand for a bearing separator? I looked around Amazon and they had many running $20-$50 that all look essentially the same as the Harbor Freight that couldn't get a bite. They do sell a Stanley-Proto that looks a little better for $90, but it still looks mostly like a raw casting and not machined.

David,

When I did the REAR bearing in my E39 (1998 528i), it was actually easy once you know the trick. Same idea as the Front bearing in the E53 X5.

Of course you can use a dremel (or angle grinder) to cut through the inner race.
But one must be careful not to cut into the hub itself.

The other method is to cut 2 opposing grooves on both sides of the race, then use a puller to pull it out.

I wrote the DIY in the link below...

DIY: 1998 528i REAR Bearing the Easy Way! - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums

I see - you made some grooves for the bearing seperator to bite on to. Just for grins, I will try that on the 2nd one, but once the dremel is out, it is barely a minute worth of grinding to go all the way through like I did for the first one. It is nice to reduce the risk of nicking that $100 hub.

I get it, if you have the tools to do the job. If not, a quality indy charged me $87.40 for the bearing and $322.32 for labor. So - the economics point to buying the tools and DIY, so long as you don't value your time at too high an hourly rate :)
But then, I'm not as young, strong and flexible as I once was ......

For me - I was doing the outer CV boots at the same time since you're in there anyway - I considered taking it to my indy, but when I got the labor bill for it I almost shit myself - to reboot the outers plus replace the front bearings was approx $900 in labor, with me supplying parts.

I spent $150 on tools and it took me a solid week working slowly and at evenings after work but I saved a lot doing it this way. Not a fun job by any means, main thing is don't be in a rush. I sprayed the axle nuts with PB blaster, nightly for a solid 4-5 days prior to starting just so they wouldnt be tough to remove, an soaked the circlip on the bearing for an hour before trying to remove it.