2002 x5 transfer case/front drive shaft problem
 

My x5 has 72,000 miles on it and the splines on the front drive shaft and the splines on the transfer case have rounded off making the x5 not drivable. Has anyone else experienced this?
What would cause this to happen?

Do you have a 4.4i?

No it has a 3 liter

My 2001 3.0 X5 with 103k miles has developed the same problem. Is there anywhere other than the dealer to get a front drive shaft from. I have found a rebuilt transfercase at www.trasnfercases.com

I have researched this issue along with another mechanical concern on my 2001 4.4. The root cause is the moisture ingress into the slip joint between the driveline splines and the tranfercase interface. The moisture causes corrosion and both the driveline and tranfercase spline begin to deteriorate until they fail. The secondary issue is that driveline only engages about the first inch of the splined transfer case slip joint although this mating hole is over 1 1/2" deep. The driveline is stationary so I would consider this a design flaw.

I have talked to transfercases.com and they do have rebuilt units readily available for about $875. Since I am looking into this for a different problem I don't have any information about where to source the driveline other than stealer.

Hope this helps.

BTW. I believe your transfercase is an NV125 made by New Process/Venture Gear. You will need to validate this by looking at the aft area of the transfercase. The label is about 1 1/2" diameter with red/black text.

I found this thread 26 pages in and was about to give up because i thought i was the only one with this problem. I have an '01 4.4i with the sport pkg., 95,000 miles. same problem, started my new years eve off great. Has anyone tried to fix with a custom shaft with "fresh" longer splines to get into the good one's still in the coupler, there appears to be just as much in there as to what was used in the first place. I'm currently in the process of fabricating a repair end with longer splines to repair my existing drive shaft. After some testing and if there's enough interest i might do some on an exchange basis. It would be nice to fix without buying an $800+ transfer case. Btw, I just loved having to remove 75% of the underside out just to remove the front shaft, great engineering! I really love driving it, but i've fixed more than half of the common problems i've been reading about and i'm getting sick of working on it.

75%??

This is the sort of failure that has a good shot at goodwill from BMW.

I had mine fixed. Originally, I had taken it to the dealer and he said it needed a new transfercase and a front drive shaft. He quoted me $4300 plus tax. This seemed like a little too much to put into an '01 car with 103k miles so I had it towed to an AAMCO that a family member had used for a repair. I ordered the transfer case myself from transfercases.com (for $895)and I found a used front drive shaft with 65k miles in great condition (for $300). The whole repair was done with parts and labor (about $500) for under 2k and now the car is working great again.

Also, I did call BMW North America directly and the person was very receptive to hearing about my problem with the transfercase and drive shaft but said there was nothing he could do about it and there was no recall on these parts even though several people on the forums have indicated some shortfalls in the design of these parts on the X5

Ok, it wasn't that bad, but just not used to pulling the exhaust, a couple of large heat shields, rear drive shaft, transfer case crossmember and then split the trans and case to get a front drive shaft out. Without any u-joints you can't tilt it down far enough to get it out.

Not having seen this area, but sounds like they should have put in a grease nipple or boot.

DAMN!!! My X5's "transfer case" just took a crap last night.
When I put it into drive or reverse it makes the LOUDEST grinding noise ever.
I got underneath the car and the noise is definately coming from the transfer case. I pray it's not the transmissiom, but I have no codes or lights saying my transmission is out.

My question:
The transfer case seems easy to get to, but I've noticed some people are taking their cars to a shop. Is that because of the balance of moving parts in that area? Or just don't want to deal with it? On this car I've replaced my radiator and water pump myself and honestly this transfer case seem alot easier. However I'm not mechanic what so ever, I can just take things apart and put them back together (I think). A buddy of mine was saying that the bolt should be marked and put back in in the exact same order to keep the balance the same and all kinds of BS which was scaring me.

Any help?
Also... It's not my tranny right? *crossing fingers*

Thanks,

x5pete, where did you get the used front drive shaft?

Also, what sort of mileage did the vehicle have before failure and what were the signs of the failure?

Thanks

I had just over 100k miles. The vehicle is a 2001 x5 3.0 that I 've owned for almost 8 years.

There were no warning signs. I was at a stop light. I attempted to go and a grinding sound came from under the car. The car would not move. I had it towed to the dealer who gave me the estimate indicating that it was the transfer case and the front drive shaft that needed to be replaced. He wanted to get only new parts, 2500 for the transfer case and 900 for the front drive shaft and then labor totaling 4300. For a car with 100k miles, I said no way and I towed it to a local shop (non-BMW) who dealt with transmissions and he said it wouldn't be hard to fix. I got the transfercase on line a transfercases.com I believe for about 1k and then the shop called some junk yards and found a good condition front drive shaft from a junked x5 for $300. Actually, I googled the part and there are cheaper ones available on line (about $250 or so).

I would have done the repair myself and I'm not a mechanic but I don't have access to a lift so I though it would be a little too challenging so for $400, the mechanic did the labor in a morning. I now have about 104k on it and no problems. I am in NY and the junk yards seem to be around NY where they found the used front drive shaft but I don't know which yard. Also, I tried to locate an aftermarket part and nobody seems to make a replacement front drive shaft.

You most likely have stripped splines where the drivehaft goes into the case. I fixed mine with a custom made shaft that has a 1" longer spline. Bmw only uses about 1/3 of the spline in the case, about a 5/8"-3/4". The seal goes bad and the splines start to rust and eventually wear down till they strip. I am going to be making replacement shafts on an exchange basis for around the same price as a new aftermarket shaft (that wont help unless you buy a reman. case) You will have to remove the case for a minute to install the new shaft because of the longer splines, but it will save you around $1000 for a reman. case and used stuff will probly do it again in the future. I did mine on a lift so it was pretty easy, you should be able to do it on some good tall jack stands. If you can change a water punp, you can do this, just have a helper when you slide the case back to install the shaft. My setup uses a good inch+ of clean spline and the 1/2 splines that are still left, way more than bmw used. I'm still waiting for my blanks to make another shaft, I've been testing the prototype (beating the crap out of the x5:D) for a few thousand miles with no problems. If your interested, you can call for more info 262-749-0689 8am-6pm cst.

A couple of pictures.
the prototype is two parts tig welded together, the new parts will be one piece and have the lip for the factory seal. I made a seal that I had laying around work because of time.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/100_2477.jpg



http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/100_2476.jpg

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/100_2473.jpg

So I towed my car to Aamco because they offered free inspection and they quoted me $4,100 to fix. Transfer Case and Front Drive-Shaft. I'm going to tell them NO and tow my car out tomorrow and attempt ordering one from Ebay or TransferCases.com And I'll have t find a used Front Drive Shaft somewhere.

You do NOT have to take of transfer case to remove front driveshaft.
I just did it (I have BMW TIS CD).
The reason the splines on the transfer case have so much extra room is so you can remove the front driveshaft.
You simply remove the front stiffener plate, undo the bolts at the front driveshaft flexdisk, then use a crowbar and slide the shaft backwards until the flexdisc can slide out (it has a centering device that sticks into the flange on the front differential preventing it from just dropping out).

If you lengthen the front driveshaft, then you will HAVE to remove the transfer case to take out the front driveshaft, since you will not be able to slide the shaft backwards to clear the flexdisk.

FYI: Cobra Transmission Parts 1-800-293-1848: BMW X5 Transfer Case Chain

My transfer case chain came in the mail today....$146 via PayPal.
Gonna try to replace it this weekend. (wish me luck).

transfercase dot com wanted $1100 for a rebuilt unit for the X5....

If I fail, then I am going 2WD conversion by lengthening the rear driveshaft....!!! :wow:

i wonder if it would be possible to fit a spacer at flexdisc to push splines in further .

Working on removal here--->
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-pictures.html

I wanted to let you guys know I went with Tom's (RaceMalibu) extended shaft and it worked perfectly. Also I didn't have to completely remove the transfer case, I unscrewed the external torx screws out about 95% and slid the transfer case out and that gave me enough room to get the new shaft in. After I put the new shaft into the transfer case, I installed the flex joint afterwards. It made things really easy not needing a helper to align and put the case back on. I ended up using a 10mm ratchet wrench, because of the tight fit, like dville suggested and that worked too. On some of those case bolts you can't even get a socket in there. (However I did end up stripping one up top and because of the tight squeeze I was limited on removal/extracting options so I ended up having to grind off the head. The case isn't threaded.) Saved myself over $1,000. And as Tom mentions now it's stronger than before, utilizing more of a percentage of the good splines still left in the case. Thanks Tom.

I see that now, due to living in the middle of the "rust belt", it appeared that the pilot flange and the shaft were one piece. Working on it at 3am didn't help either, I just wanted to get it apart. The first prototype I put in my own car was a little longer than the new production pieces, so I had to remove the case. As ttzcar just posted, the new extended shaft goes in with out having to completely remove the case. I would like to give a big thanks to Joe and Jimmy for being so patient during getting these made, we ran into a few bumps but it looks like smooth sailing ahead. I have some pictures to upload of the new shafts, I'll get them up shortly.

Here are some pictures of the new shaft repair components.
These are the new one piece blanks I had made.
http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/100_3390.jpg

This will give you a good idea of what the damaged shaft looks like and the amount of good spline that gets used.
http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/100_3393.jpg

The press fit step is machined to fit the i.d. of each shaft repaired. Runout is checked as it's being machined as well as when it is being welded in.
http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/100_3517.jpg

Here is the first finished shaft.
http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/100_3405.jpg

I haven't ordered any more blanks yet to keep in stock, but if you need one done they're only 4 days for me to get, so I can have them by the time I receive your core. If I get enough interest in these I plan on having some finished shafts in stock. If your interested in having one done please call me at 262-749-0689 or e-mail me at [email protected]. Thanks again, Tom Gottschalk.

Wow Tom, nice work. My X just got diagnosed with a bad transfer case. Mechanic is shopping around for a replacement. Is this shaft the only part that needs to be replaced? Remanufactured transfer case is $1300.

btw, very disappointed in this. only 95K miles on this thing and it stranded my wife and 1 yr old daughter on a freeway overpass.

I don't blame you. Failures are to be expected but drivetrain failures are the least acceptable ones.

yep, and i just got a notice about a settlement in a class action lawsuit regarding the subframe design flaw in my 330i. love my bimmers, but damn this forces me to think twice.

Me too. I love BMWs and we've had them in the family for a long time. But the newer ones (mid 90s and on) IMHO went into mechanical designs and parts which were meant to go bad / obsolete earlier than acceptable.

I love the x5 but the awd system has never been a focus for the company. It bothers me but doesn't surprise me that the transfer case was under-engineered.

For the record, I think all premium cars should get 200-300k out of the block and 150-200 out of the tranny with normal driving conditions.

If your shaft looks like the one in the first picture my repair will work with out buying a new case. If the chain is worn or broken(i cant see one actually breaking suddenly), it wont help, but check out dvilles link on replacing the chain, he has an awesome step by step with good pictures. Make sure they inspect the splines very carefully for wear, if they look ok make sure they really grease them up before assembly. If there is some wear on them, you should get one my shafts. Mine let go on my girlfriend on new years eve in the middle of an intersection in sub-zero weather. She's 4'11", 95lbs and was trying to push it out of the intersection and no one even stopped to help. Glad our baby was at grandmas at the time.

Btw, the case is a New Process case made in good ol u.s.a.. Not much in there but a chain and gears.

rdonald, here is the other thread I was talking about. Also check out dvilles thread on changing the chain. The pictures will give you a good idea of whats going on inside there.

Awesome work Racemalibu!

I have a ticking noise that increases with speed and the stealership says it's likely my front driveshaft. But they want to wait until it gets worse. It's slowly getting worse.

Were any of you getting this ticking noise prior to this failure documented in this thread........... or am I into something else ?!!?

Without actually driving the vehicle its hard to say, but everyone I've dealt with so far has been suddenly stranded with no warning when the splines let go. If the noise your asking about is a sharp snapping noise from under the vehicle under acceleration, then it's most likely the chain is stretched out in the transfercase. I cant see anything making a ticking noise in the front shaft, if the splines were worn that bad, i think it would have failed by now, it could be something in the differential or cv shafts. If its a cv joint it would be worse when you turn sharply, like in a parking lot. It would only take a about 20 min for a repair shop to pull the front shaft out and inspect it for peace of mind and lube the splines up when they reassemble. Hope this helps, keep us posted on what you find.

Dropped you a quick email as I'm not sure this problem I'm having is on-topic with this thread.................. but who knows. No one has been able to figure it out for about a year and a half now and it's getting progressively worse.

Just some information on the chain. There are two possible chains for the NV125 Transfer Case used in the X5. One with one blue link or two blue links.

I have more information on the the blog: Cobra Transmission Parts 1-800-293-1848: Search results for nv125

Hopefully this information will be useful.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2640/...dbbe43de_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3419/...eb05cd4a3f.jpg

Just wanted to thank Tom for his assistance & very creative and affordable solution. We got stranded on 95N the night before thanksgiving the wife, kids and I. After towing back the X to the DC area, I heard from my mechanic on Monday telling me to basically replace the transfer case & drive shaft. In my case this would be the 2nd time around. Long story short, I called Tom and shipped him my drive shaft which he repaired and mailed right back. I picked up the X yesterday and couldn't be happier about the outcome.
Good solution if you have an older X & don't want to spend $2500 just in parts.

+1 sorry about no one helping you guys. I always help people when I can. My mother in law got hit by a car, thrown off her bike in the middle of an intersection. Some lady was yelling at her to get out of the street. Police were calle ambulance came, took her to the ER she had a fractured leg. But wtf was the lady yelling at her to get out of the street for instead of asking if she was ok. Anyway nice work, hopefully I wont need one, but I paid my triple A just in case.

I'll also chime in and says thanks to Tom for this solution. My 2000 X5 4.4 with only 89k miles shredded the driveshaft splines just like in the pics, and his solution worked for me and saved money vs. other options. The only issue I ran into was finding a local shop that was willing to go with this option. The first shop refused, but a second one was fine with it and indeed the owner later told me that it appeared to be an interesting and very fine solution to this problem.

Thanks for all the info in this thread!

Wish I had found it before I had an independent transmission shop replace the transfer case and the front drive shaft.

I have a 2001 4.4i with 155K. Stopped at a traffic light and when it turned green, there was a horrendous grinding sound and and the X5 rolled backwards while still in drive. No warning sounds, no warning lights, or any kind of warning whatsoever. X5 was driving normally before failure.

I don't know if there is any way you can do preventive maintenance on this, but it does leave you stranded without any warning.

Thanks for the website below. Great prices!

Transfer Case Express, Inc. · New, rebuilt transfer cases ( transfercase ). Lowest prices. In California, world-wide delivery

Bringing this one back from the dead. Just talked to Tom today and he is still going strong with the front driveshafts. I'll be sending mine to him in the next day or two.

I recently traded in my X5 after having it 13 years. Tom's fix worked perfectly for those last 3.5 years.

This thread should be a sticky.

+1 seems like all e53 owners will know tom at some point.


Sent from the Thunderdome.

I have a 2005 4.4. Does this issue happen on these vehicles too? I'd like to inspect the drive shaft myself but would like to know before getting started.

:popcorn:

Must have been in New York!

Asking because 04+ have Xdrive instead of the old regular 40/60 split transfer case. Are the diffs ends exactly the same or the engineering flaw causing this issue was addressed in later year models?

:thumbup:

Ok, found the answer to my query in an old thread. Weasel pointed out in that thread that the shredded spline issue does not affect Xdrive
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/x5-e53-forum/63004-transfer-case-removal-pictures-6.html

"The older one can have the chain slack problem like this thread, and the front output shaft splines can strip on some of them as well. The x-drive is not going to have the output shaft splines problems and is not going to have the chain slack problems... because all the abuse gets thrown to the clutch pack, which is what wears on them causing replacement costs.
Pretty much either one is just as likely to get worn to the point of repalcement over the years. But that is with anything with a transfer case. I've repalced them on fords, chevys, dodges, jeeps, etc. Unavoidable costs of having a 4 wheel drive vehicle."

"short" front drive shaft
 

Here's the Central American solution to the "short" front drive shaft problem... can't vouch for how sound this is mechanically but its a pretty simple idea....

http://www.xoutpost.com/members/jwil...53-photo-4.jpg

http://www.xoutpost.com/members/jwil...51-photo-2.jpg

The simplest solutions are often the cleverest; they are also usually wrong.

I have a 2006 X5 3.0 6sp Manual Trans with 113K miles.

Questions:

1. Does anyone know when (roughly how many miles) the clutch pack goes out on the ATC500 transfer case?

2. How much and who do you use to rebuild the Transfer Case?
Is it a DIY with the rebuild kit?

I only know about the actuator gear stripping/failing on the ATC500 transfer case.

NV125 has its own problems with short driveshaft, chain slack, etc.

Out of my curiosity, has anyone here dumped the Transfer Case/Front drive shaft, then find a drive shaft long enough to hook up directly to the Transmission, thus converting AWD ---> RWD vehicle?

Count me into the desplined club. Not fun. I'm trying to get in touch with Tom. This is a great old thread and I'm happy to dig it back up!

Why would anyone do that? Do you have problem with your transfer case? Unplug the cable to X-Drive transfer case and you will be RWD only. You will lose DSC though.

Bringing an old thread out of the grave. I am tasked with a 2005 4.4L (2-14-2005 production date) E53 X5. Report is a metal to metal noise and doesn't drive in either drive or reverse. I had read early portion of thread and hoped it was the classic sheared splines on front driveshaft. Later in thread, i read that the design changed before 2005 to where it is x drive now.

So where would be the places, things to check on with this 2005 please? I am newb to E53 X5 but have owned 2 diesel bmw (E90 and E70) so not a newb to working on BMWs. I have intermediate mechanic skills but that is a realtive judgement thing. I switched out the diff on the E90 to go to a LSD Wavetrac if that better clarifies. thanks

Most likely a front drive shaft popped out of the front diff...

I looked at where front driveshaft plugged into transfer case and it seemed to be seated in all the way.

I noticed your 2005 is 3.0d. Is that an M57 Diesel?

It can be hard to tell and they have been known to pop out - the spring clip that should hold the axle in the diff can fail to do so - not common but it has happened, often not long after an axle replacement.

Yep, my '05 3.0D is the second-generation M57, the M57TU or more correctly, the M57D30TÜ. 160kW and 500Nm. :thumbup:

actually all you have to do is loosen the transfer case bolts 9 out about 1 inch, pry out and shaft goes in fine.

The issue I was referring to (in BB_cuda's case) is a front axle popped out - not the front drive shaft.

The "metal-to-metal" sound and no drive in forward or reverse is a give-away.