DIY: E53 X5 Rear Spring replacement
 

As I found literally nothing on the internet regarding this subject, I decided to take photos while I replaced mine. E53 X5

Disclamer: I am not responsable for anyone that decides to use this information. Use this information at your own risk.

First, Jack up the car and remove the wheel:
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Remember to put a jackstand, I put mine undir the rear subframe, then lover the jack.
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Next jack under the rear till there is no stress on the strut and remove the lower bolt.
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Next you need to remove the rear upper wishbone, first release the wiring and brake pipe for the holders.
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Loosen the nut and the bolt that holds the wishbone.
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Then the upper rear wishbone can be removed.
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Time to remove the spring. To remove it since there is no space for spring clamps, I jacked under the hole thing till the spring was as compressed as i could get it, then chained it to holt it like that. That way when i released the jack the spring was a bit looser, and with a crowbar, got it out.
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Then to take the chains off the old spring, I used spring clamps.
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Then did the whole thing backwards, for the installation of the new spring.
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Epic!!! Nice picture tour!


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Nice. A member named oldskewel used some springs clamps from the 80's I think. They are smaller since cars weighed much less back then.

Wow. Some serious oil buildup on parts back thrre. Grest to see someone doing s repsir on a csr thst doesnt look like its brsnd new but i must say it would hsve been a perfect time to degrease alllllvthat stuff. Either way thanks for posting oics.

But one question about removing the rear upper wishbone's nut near wheel hub... did you twist the nut off with wrench while holding the end of bolt with driver OR did you hold nut with wrench and ratchet the bolt backwards with driver?


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That's right. They are about as small as spring compressors could possibly be - something like a 7/16" threaded rod with small hooks on it. But they do the job. And even being that small, they barely fit.

Due to access difficulty, instead of using the thread to compress the spring, I jacked the spring compressed, then put these in place to hold it compressed as I carefully lowered the jack.

There is no oil build up at all there, its just dirt and salt from the roads, just looks different in pictures ;)

Regarding the upper wishbone nut, the spindle has a allen key slot at the tip to hold it while your remove the nut ;)