:wow:

how the fuuu*********. How many miles on your ride, and what engine? I'm at 90k now, and last time I checked mine looked mint.

+3 for stripped splines - you'll need a new output shaft, T-case chain should be done while its open, and a longer driveshaft stub - common on higher mileage pre-facelift E53's

I'm going to put it on jack stands and pull the front drive shaft out tonight.

Options:
1. I sent racemalibu572 an email and he is still modifying drive shafts.
2. I looked at Cobra Transmissions too. The nice thing here is I can get that drive shaft in my hands this weekend to fix it.
3. eBay has good looking prices, but unsure of quality. Honestly, I was looking to get a new vehicle in the fall and dump the X5, so maybe the eBay option will last me 6 months (4K miles). I could at leat drive it to teh dealer and take a low ball trade on it if I wanted to.

I'm not looking to do the transfer case maintenance, becuase I dont plan on keeping it that much longer. There is a long list of other issues that I'm just not going to put the time and money into anymore.

If you put the gear selector into P and the car rolls, then your trouble is somewhere in front of the t-case, I think. Maybe the t-case itself. If the car is in P, then there are pawls that are pushed into the output shaft to keep the car from moving. Your issue is more global than an individual driveshaft. Something common among the driveshafts has broken, allowing the car to roll when in P. The commonality is the t-case and the transmission.

The stripped splines would keep the car from going, but they should not keep it from parking.

The t-case is a differential, of sorts. It distributes power fore and aft based on slippage, if the front driveshaft is slipping then all power will be delivered there and the car will not go. But the rear is still connected and the car should stay where you put it when you select P.

If the chain or related parts failed within the t-case, then the wheels would not be connected to the transmission at all, and P would not do it's job. Of course, D would not work either.

Me thinks you have t-case troubles, not just front driveshaft issues.

Front driveshaft splines confirmed. With the front wheels off the ground and Gear Selector in PARK, I could spin the shaft freely with my hand (and the front wheels would spin). As I was removing it and pushing the FDS back into the TC, the teeth caught and I couldn't spin it anymore.

I'm going to try one of the ebay options and see how it goes.

Here is a link to the pic, I couldn't get the pic to post.

https://goo.gl/photos/yudcFhJiY4jxW3r28

https://goo.gl/photos/mNM7HwxzUi76zuGG6https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...hlT2xtekNQZTNR

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1Q...7SywNUA15PnQDghttps://photos.google.com/photo/AF1Q...7SywNUA15PnQDg

It should work. Just be prepared for little bit of extra work to put it on. You will need to take out exhaust, disconnect rear drive shaft and unbolt transfer case off of transmission in order to fit longer front drive shaft.

One of the Ebay options has a 1/2" longer spline and the other has a 1" longer spline - if you get the 1/2" longer version you don't have to drop everything - the 1" longer one needs more stuff to be dropped.

Interesting, I did not see that option. My drive shaft measured 29 1/4", and the one I bought is advertised as 30", so maybe it's only 3/4" longer even though it is advertised as 1".

I bought this one: BMW x5 Front Drive Shaft 00 03 1"Extended Splines BMW Part 26207508629 | eBay

Called the guy and is supposed to overnight it for me so I can install it this weekend. Hopefully it all works out. I'll report back.

Thanks for all the help. This forum is great!

^Thats a great price and looks like a great product! Let me know how the shaft is, honestly I may get one of those and install it preventatively in order to avoid failure in the future - for the price (<$250) its a no brainer since they aren't terribly tough to install. I could probably also do the T-case chain preventatively as well and have a bulletproof T-case for $350