X5 E53 X5 4.4i Steer.col.-lower joint assy
 

Has anyone here had to replace the lower Double joint steering assembly?

(#4 on the diagram)

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=32_1188


Why did, you say? Well let me explain, it all started when I replaced every component of my suspension...ALL OF IT!! then I started hearing a CLUNK! sound in the front suspension. I check everything and nothing is wrong. So I was like, huh all of the components are good. So I checked the steering and noticed that if I move the steering side to side about two inches, it made noise... Went and got my little 6y/o daughter to help me as she moved the steering wheel I listen with a stethoscope and the noise was coming from the double u-joint. It's a not super expensive part... But is it a wear part? Does your make noise? Have you replaced it before?

Ugh I have a dumb popping noise consistently and I have replaced all suspension parts as well. Even the dumb ball joint. I was hoping my subframe bolts we're lose or something.

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I have replaced mine, I think not uncommon problem. Also you might have some sound coming from the rack itself. There was a thread on this a while back and the question was brought up about this happening shortly after tie rods have been replaced.

check for play before anything else.

I checked all the steering components, that's the only place where the noise was at it most loudest.

I chased a clicking/clunking sound 2 weeks after replacing all my thrust arms in the front. It sounded like a CV and I even replaced the right side axle to no avail. Mine would only make noise reversing and then in tight cornering. Everything pointed to the CV.

After the axle replacement and still the same noise, I got back under the car and went back over every bolt I had touched doing the arm replacement. Nothing, all my preloads were correct and everything was tight. Still the clunking noise.

A couple more days of reading and reading and reading and even contemplating a differential issue, I dove back under one more time and really laid on the bolts. One of my inner thrust arm bolts moved about 1/8 turn with I would guess 100 ft/lbs of torque. I gave it all I had and got it to turn another 1/4 turn. That fixed my problem, sound went away. It was a fail on my part I guess, trying to tighten those bolts on the ground for proper preload was just not enough. Check those bolts if you just had them apart.

Mine is a 3.0i, but I think it's a similar or identical design. But I can see that I might have a lot better access (pretty easy actually, from above) to this joint than on a V8.

I found about 1" rotational "play" in the steering wheel when I first got my x5. I similarly recruited one of my kids to turn the steering wheel side to side while I was feeling down on the u-joint, steering rack area. This allowed me to isolate exactly what was loose, which was not clear until doing this very carefully (I had first thought it was a problem in the steering rack interface, which was wrong).

In my case, the double u-joint assembly itself was fine, but the problem was that the set screw(s?) holding it to the steering shaft were not holding it firmly. So the u-joint had a little play with respect to the steering shaft. I fixed that by loosening the screw(s?), cleaning everything carefully, and reassembling with loctite. A critical part of the tightening was to get it centered before locking it down - so my daughter was wiggling the steering wheel back and forth as I was telling her what amplitude to use, and as it settled into the natural center, I finalized the torquing.

Zero play after that.

And my double-u-joint is still fine after 186k miles, but of course yours might be worn out. The testing I mention above should be able to isolate whether the slop is within the joint itself or in an interface above or below it.

I will try this tomorrow.

I was able to torqued it for half a turn. I did not used a torque wrench as its snowing here, and I did it on the fly. Tomorrow I will check the torque.

No torque wrench needed just make sure it is tight. I thought mine was tight enough but I was wrong. Even strong handed check the first time and it never budged. Once I laid into it it tightened a little more and problem solved. Noise free for a few months now.