Car jerks when shifting to R
 

As the title suggests, for quite some time my e53 has been doing this weird motion when selecting R. It doesn't seem like the standard transmission jerk that I've read about. Once R is engaged, I can literally feel the car creep a little backward, meaning that the wheels are literally rotating slightly. Does the same when going R > D, but not as much. Someone told me that it's probably a worn-out transfer case. Any ideas? If it's the transfer case, then what exactly could be causing this behavior?

How many miles are on it? Do you hear any clunk noises? Mounts, transfer case chain, bad carrier bearing, worn shaft guidos, or bad u-joint. Does it do it cold and hot?

It might be a combination of slop in the transfer case chain, worn spline and a fast idle speed.

My first question is how can the roll either forward or backwards when you have your foot on the brake? :confused:

Like you have to do when shifting between any gear and reverse... ;)

Had something similar, try to record from under there see if you have the same behavior.
For me it happens randomly, sometimes when cold, sometimes hot, sometimes not...

But i feel it's less since i fixed my steering angle sensor and have my 4x4 back working.

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...sfer-case.html

220k miles (355k km).
It's not really a roll. The rear wheels rotate just so slightly and yes, since the foot is on the brakes, you can hear the scraping as the rotors move from under the brake pad pressure. I will try to record something. Some time ago I did notice a fault that said something like "worn transfer case fluid".

Edit:
I forgot to mention that somewhere at 100k miles the transfer case was replaced with a supposedly restored unit.

Just realized that I even commented your thread more than a month ago. Looking at the video I expect it's exactly what's happening underneath mine as well. The drive shaft is definitely moving or else the rear wheels wouldn't try to rotate while switching gears.

Does it vibrate when it moving?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVwHQSsFTBc

Drives very smooth for me even tho i haven't fixed a camera under there, only felt at stand still.


In that video i think it's the infamous issue of the driveshaft center bearing

Yea. After seeing that video, I replaced the carrier bearing during a fuel filter change.
At 220,000 miles, I would suspect transfer case wear.