x5 front shock replacement -help please
 

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can anyone assist me on how to replace the front right passenger strut?

thanks, any input appreciated.

22mm bolts on the bottom of the strut at the spindle.

13mm (I think) 3 nuts on top of the shock tower in engine bay


Take it out as an assembly, then you have to get a spring compressor to compress the spring a bit then use an air gun to get the top strut mount off, remove spring and put spring/strut mount on top of new strut, reinstall as an assembly.

The top part has three nuts, do I need to unscrew the weird bolt in the middle on the strut itself it looks like?

the bottom is very hard to get out. (no air tools) i used pb blaster to soak them and a little torch to heat up and they still wont budge.
http://realoem.com/bmw/diagrams/i/r/188.png

bolt in number 3 and below it.
same with 12..

thanks

bottom bolts should be VERY tight, torque spec is 180 ft lbs on those, I just put an open ended 7/8" wrench on the bolt head, and took my 2 foot breaker bar with a 1/2" drive 22mm (or 7/8" works) socket and soaked the nut in PB, then cranked the fucker loose!

The trick is to turn the bolt enough so that your wrench "braces" itself against the strut to counterhold, otherwise you need someone really strong to counterhold that bottom bolt!


Don't unscrew the weird bolt on the top middle until you get the assembly out, that is the strut mount, when the assembly is off the car you'll deal with that. Get the assembly out first, its just the 2 bolts on bottom and 3 up top

the 3.0 and 4.4 have different part numbers on struts. are they interchangeable at all. like if i leave the old coil spring maybe? the year would be the same just motor difference. i can get the whole assembly that way to replace this one.

I say, invest in an impact gun. I bought this one a year ago to replace my quite shitty craftsman.
3/8" Professional Air Impact Wrench

That bad boy has some umph. Took off those bottom strut 22s on my car without a hitch. Tightened them up no issue as well. I tightened on setting 2, and it still torqued it over 180, I had to undo and re-torque.

Next that middle 22 mm, in the strut hat, you should loosen that while on the ground. You can try while the car is in the air, but be careful. Once you remove the assembly, it will have a tendency to spin the shaft while you try to turn that middle 22. But if you are using an impact, it might just take it off.

I'm sure the 4.4 struts are valved differently for the extra weight of the v8 motor. Probably much stiffer in the front than 3.0 struts.

Just take the assembly out of the car, and then when you do the strut hat you have to counter hold the shaft to keep it from spinning. Like slick said, an impact gun is good to have, but if you are on a budget just go to harbor freight and buy a breaker bar or two that is like 2-3 feet long, place the strut in a vise and go to town.


A long breaker bar can be made longer as well, if you are still stuck on those 22mm strut bottom bolts take the handle of your jack off and slip it over the breaker bar to add some length, and thusly, torque!


I did my wheel bearings recently without a SINGLE IMPACT TOOL, all hand tools, and the axle nuts are torqued to 330 ft lbs. How did I get those off, same method I mentioned, long ass breaker bar made longer by slipping the jack handle over it!

You should NEVER use an impact tool on the shaft nut, the aluminium hat sometimes breaks and an added bonus is you can easily destroy the internal foot valve. There's a special tool.......

I really can't see how removing that with an impact would do anything to the hat. But installing, I would have to agree, plus those are usually not torqued to anything at all.

Also, if you are removing that, chances are you are replacing it, so the presumption is that who cares if you break the valve.

I agree. I've broke the threaded part of a strut before by using an impact tool. Don't use them on the strut hat bolt. Hold the strut steady with an Allen wrench and use another wrench to unscrew the bolt.