Brake caliper bolts-advice or tips please
 

I'm taking the plunge on changing my right-side CV axle nessisated by my wheel bearing going out. What's ironic is I was able to finally get the 36mm axle nut off after much effort. But now I cannot get the two 16mm bolts loose to remove the brake caliper. But Mercy, I just can't get a good position to really turn or pull the socket wrench and that's compounded by the limited space of the wheel well. I was able to fashion a 4ft breaker bar for the axle nut at least.

I don't have an impact wrench but if that's what it will take.

Those should only be torqued to 110Nm or 81 ft lbs, but they come from the factory with thread locker. Make sure you use thread locker on them when you replace them.

You can use a hydraulic jack to push the breaker bar up but watch that you don't raise the X off the jackstands. Pushing down is usually getting your leg(s) involved...

You are turning the wheels so you have easier access, right?

An impact wrench makes things easier.

Yes, make sure you are turning the wheels to get better access to those bolts, and use a cheater bar on your wrench. I keep a 4-foot length of iron pipe around for just such projects; sized to fit my 1/2" ratchet & breaker bar.

But if you can swing it, the impact wrench is really the way to go. The most affordable version is the plug-in electric; I got mine on sale from a big-box hardware store a couple of years ago, and it is hands-down the best $40 I have ever spent. Heck, even if I'd spent the $70 on it at full price, it'd still be well worth the admission price! Made me wonder why I didn't buy one years earlier.
Tool Shop 1/2" Impact Wrench Kit at Menards

And if you think those bolts are tough, wait until you get to pulling that bearing out. I just did the left side bearing on mine yesterday and -- whoof! -- that was a job! I used a bearing puller set with the wheel carrier still attached to the strut, but on the other side I may just bite the bullet & pull it off so that I can use a press to get the old bearing out & the new one in.

Well it's true the stupid question is the one not asked. I took your suggestions and found I was able to turn the wheels more inward and then able to slip my breaker bar just past the fender. Success!

Now the fun part; removing the axle from the hub. I've read of some using a "hammer and daft"; how exactly? I'm guessing an Autozone hub puller would be just as easy.

I think you have a long haul in front of you; you'd better do some homework before getting yourself in too far. I started another thread on the topic of wheel bearings, and so far it's collected some good info; you ought to check it out. http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...aring-r-r.html

I don't mean to discourage you, but this is a big, big job, and you really need to look into all that's involved before you get too far. Once you start pulling the hub off, there is no turning back and driving it to a mechanic for help. The bearing is destroyed when you pull the hub off, so then you need to either replace the bearing in place, or pull the whole wheel carrier off & take it somewhere to get replaced. Then you have to put it all back together. From memory, here are the steps I took to do the job:

1. Raise front end.
2. Remove wheel.
3. Unstake hub nut and remove.
4. Remove brake caliper, hang caliper from frame.
5. Remove brake disk retaining bolt, and remove brake disk.
6. Remove bolts holding wheel carrier to strut.
7. Tap drive axle inward to release from splined hub.
8. Temporarily replace bolts holding wheel carrier to strut.
9. Use slide hammer to remove hub.
10. Remove dust shield/protection plate.
11. Remove ABS sensor.
12. Remove bearing retainer snap ring.
13. Use wheel bearing adapter plates & cups to remove bearing from wheel carrier.
14. Use Dremel tool with cutoff wheel to split bearing race clinging to hub spindle.
15. Replace dust shield/protection plate.
16. Clean up bearing mating surfaces & apply antisieze compound.
17. Use wheel bearing adapter plates & cups to press bearing into wheel carrier.
18. Reinstall bearing retainer snap ring.
19. Reinstall/replace ABS sensor.
20. Use wheel bearing adapter plates & cups to press hub spindle into bearing.
21. Remove bolts holding wheel carrier to strut to allow wheel carrier to move out far enough to reinsert axle end into splined hub.
22. Use special tool to pull axle end into splined hub.
23. Replace hub nut, torque to spec, and restake to the axle spindle.
24. Reinstall brake disk & retaining bolt.
25. Reinstall brake caliper.
26. Reinstall wheel.
27. Lower front end.

That's probably not an exhaustive list, and it just breezes by some of the struggles I've encountered, and the costs. Many of the tools can be obtained through loaner programs, but some can't, and they can get expensive. The Advance Auto store near me had a slide hammer in their freebie loaner program; your Autozone ought to as well. It'll look like this one --> http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...mage_21847.jpg

Then you'll either need to pull the whole wheel carrier off (have to get the control arms and tie rod off for that) and use a hydraulic press to get the bearing out, or leave the carrier in place and use a set of wheel bearing adapters. I have a hydraulic press, but was able to buy a wheel bearing adapter set from another member here who had just done this job on his X5.
I don't think I would've saved much time or effort by pulling the wheel carrier, but for that you need a some tie rod tools. I got a front end service kit from Advance Auto in case I needed it (similar to this one 5 Piece Front End Service Tool Set ).

But before you can even start on pressing/pulling the bearing out, you need to deal with the snap ring. I already had a very nice Channel Lock snap ring pliers, but it was no match for this monster; I ended up spending $40 on a Lisle heavy duty unit. Bottom-line pricing on Lisle 49200 at ToolTopia.com . Even with that tool, that snap ring was not easy to coax out of there.

And once you get to that point you need to get the ABS sensor out of the way. Mine wouldn't budge. No idea how long it had been in there, but I had to drill it out; another ~$80 for a pair of those (because I know I'll find the same situation on the other side.)

Again, I don't write this to discourage you, just to make sure you know what you're getting into. Do some research & make sure you've got your tools & parts lined up before you start, or this could be a very long, frustrating job for you. If you have any hesitation, at least take the vehicle to a few shops & see what they would charge for the job. Your time and your X5's downtime are worth something.

I appreciate the great advice and concern. I actually planned on removing the whole knuckle and taking it to a shop to have the old bearing pressed out/new pressed in. I called him first (mutual friends of the family) and he said they've done BMW bearings before and has the tools and press and to bring it on in. I have a Timken bearing.

I did call around. BMW wanted almost $300 just for the bearing and recommended flange so no doubt they'd charge somewhere north of $900 to do the repair. There's this new "indy" shop I was told about and the owner/main mechanic is actually from Germany and I called to get a quote and never heard anything back. That was disappointing. When I called again I just got the recording. Maybe he had a family emergency. But my bearing got so bad she was dragging and my spedo quit working when I got home so I'd have to have it towed wherever she went. Did I maybe bite off more than I can chew? Likely. If I get stuck along the way I know a mobile mechanic that could come for $60 an hour.

If I'm successful on my own all the credit goes to all you guys and Xoutpost. This has been a tremendous resource. To quote bluerussian "BOOYA!!!"

$300 for the bearing & "flange"? I'm guessing that would be the hub, which the BMW TIS recommends replacing, but really isn't necessary if you can get the inner race off by other means. It's still perfectly usable.

Check at your Autozone for loaner tools to get the control arms & tie rod off too, as that will be a struggle without them. The tool pictured in the upper left corner is the one that I've found most useful for getting the tie rod & control arm ball joints loose; start by loosening the nuts on each (soak with PB Blaster or other penetrant first) then back the nuts out a bit but leave it on the stud and have the top part of the lever press against the nut instead of the top of the stud to keep from damaging the threads. http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...mage_16388.jpg

Also, the bolts that hold the wheel carrier to the strut are tough ones. I think the torque spec on them is 180 ft. lbs., and since it's a bolt & nut you'll need a wrench on both sides, 22mm I think.

And make sure you have some wire handy that can be used to suspend the brake caliper and drive axle; you don't want either to be hanging unsupported.

Good luck on the project; keep us posted on your progress!

Tonight I was able to remove everything but the CV axle shaft was being stubborn (using a hammer and drift to push out from the hub) so I ran to Autozone just before they closed and rented an axle hub puller and wouldn't you know it the brake rotor center flange got in the way (too high) and I wasn't able to use it. Drat. Or else I'd be taking the knuckle assembly to the shop tomorrow during my lunch hour. Now that I think of it it seems like someone posted about the AZ version not fitting.

I think it I'll need a 4lb sledge and more WD-40

Yes, that was me that posted about the Autozone "hub puller" not fitting, you need a different loaner part from autozone (I'm assuming you rented the slide hammer from there) See the front wheel bearing thread for more details but this is what you need to rent, and don't return the hub puller you have yet, read on:

OEM/Axle puller (27032) | Loan-a-Tools | AutoZone.com


It's called an Axle puller, loaner part 27032. It's a bit wider in diameter than the Hub Puller, so the flange fits on just fine and you can thread three lug nuts over the hub to secure it. The caveat is that you need the threaded rod in the Hub Puller kit to thread on the axle puller, so that you can thread it in and "push" the axle inwards.


The Kit davintosh posted about from Advance Auto actually includes both flanges, and the threaded rod so its really an all-in-one kit, whereas if you are renting tools from Autozone you need three tools.



Good luck with the bearing/CV job, I did both sides early in the summer and it was definitely a huge job, I have zero impact tools and made do with only buying about 100 bucks worth of tools for the job, I rented the rest. In the Front Wheel Bearing thread referenced above, there is a nice writeup from the E39 forums which is helpful, but again, you really need a set of heavy duty circlip pliers as well to get those circlips out!


And yes, you will need a 4 lb mini sledge (I got mine for 10 bucks from Harbor Freight, love that place!), plenty of WD-40 and anti-seize. God bless you for taking the knuckle off, no way I was going through that trouble, and then having to torque all the control arms at the frame with the vehicle on the ground, wasn't for me. With the 85 dollar wheel bearing adapter kit from harbor freight (use a coupon on it, its 120 normally) you'd be just fine and removing and reinstalling them with the knuckle on the car. Good luck either way and if you need help just let davintosh or myself know, his memory on the job is fresher than mine but I know the job quite well and won't forget it for a while.

Yes indeed this job is fresh in my memory; it's staring me in the face every time I open the door to the garage:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...08446311_n.jpg

It's been like that since Saturday; I decided to wait for the ABS sensor to arrive before putting it back on the road. My wife doesn't like driving my car, so isn't terribly happy with me, but she still loves me so there's hope she'll like me again too. :D

Good plan on waiting for the ABS sensor, she looks good and clean though in that hube bore! I must have used 2 cans of brake cleaner on this job and tons of wire brushes lol!

Hey a little fun mod you can do while she's in the air, pull off those silly fender liner square "covers" near the 3 o'clock position on the wheel well, it opens up a nice hole and I theorize it as a free "3.0 brake cooling" mod :)

Thank you much, Ricky, for the tip on combining the two AZ axle/hub pullers. I think that would certainly do the trick. I also happen to have new Lmfrdr ball joints and thrust arms bushings that I hope to go ahead and change out while I'm at it. But that depends how well the rest of the CV shaft/bearing goes. I really need to have this done by mid next week. I also work a part-time second job (braces and college).

The weekend might be a marathon!

And speaking of ball joints.... quick question; are the two torx bolts that mounts the ball joint on the knuckle really reverse threaded i.e rightly loosey?

I didn't replace those myself, my mechanic did when he did my thrust arms and control arms up front a while back. So I don't know if its reverse thread, although I seriously doubt it would be!

:pullhair:This is one of these jobs without the right tools.

I used a Harbor Freight Rotary Hammer with a bull point chisel to push my axle out of my hub. Worked great. Took 3 minutes.

This axle is laughing at my 3lb sledge. Must be some serious rust despite a good 1/2 can of WD-40. I thought the Autozone hub puller would do the trick but no dice, even with a breaker bar. Oh and the caliper retaining screw is rusted and stripped so I'll be drilling that out. I can hear my old man laughing "son, you just can't work on foreign cars". Ugh

And....SUCCESS

Tip of the day; use a ball-peen hammer instead of a drift. Place the rounded end on the shaft and pound away with the 3 lb sledge. 8 wacks did the trick.

Dad was a Ford man 100% but he'd like my X5.

AFAIK, the bolts should NOT be loc-tited if torqued to spec.

My indy must have used at at some point...it was semi-stripped when I had to remove them. To be safe and sound, I ended up helicoil the calipers bolt threads and I did not use loctite when I put them back on

Yesterday and today I was able to make some notable progress.

1). Took the knuckle to have the old bearing pressed out/new Timken bearing pressed in. Dropped it off on my lunch break and picked it up on my way home from work. The bearing cost $47 from Autozone and the service was $58. Not bad I thought.

2). Installed the new EMPI CV axle I've had. Went in very smoothly.

3). I think I will go ahead and take my thrust arm to have the bushing replaced. I also have new ball joints. I will do the driver's side afterwards. Why not since I have everything accessible and I'm on a roll (knock on wood).

I do notice I have less than a 1/8-inch gap from where the shaft housing meets the neck of the transmission inlet. I have a nice assortment of "kiss marks" from my crow bar and hammer.

Have I cleared the clip?

I did put bearing grease on the splines and clip.

I just wanted to check in and report that I'm finished and after a good test drive last night and today my X drives great. Again I changed the following:

1). RH side CV Axle
2). Wheel bearing
3). new Trust Arm bushing pressed in
4). Ball Joint

I plan on changing the LH side TA bushing/Ball Joints next week then taking it in to get aligned.

All the parts added up to $216. Total labor for bearing and bushing replacment was $93 and I spent about $39 for assorted tools i.e. 36mm socket, e10 star socket to remove ball joint screws, ect. So about $350ish total. Many of the tools needed such as the ball joint removers was rented from Autozone.

Would I do it again? I don't know. This was a long, difficult, and strenuous job. And as most of us realize we don't typically have alot of spare time to delve into such projects. I did learn that changing the CV Axle in of itself isn't all that difficult.

Well done! Glad to hear things went well, and costs were relatively low.

Before I started on mine, I asked for a ballpark price on replacing the bearings from a local guy who runs a small mom & pop (literally; he & his wife do all the work) brake shop, and he said he'd probably charge about $1200 for the fronts alone. I've probably got about $600 into parts & tools for the front and rear bearings, plus all the parts I put into rebuilding the rear control arms, so I figure I paid myself pretty decently for the job. Plus I learned a few things along the way. Like I said before, it's not an easy job, but not impossible to DIY either.

x3, really, the job itself is tedious and strenuous, but more than anything its the time factor. this is not a 2 hour easy job on a Saturday, but I'll be damned if I was paying 1000 bucks labor for it (I got quoted $1350 to replace both front bearings, and outer CV axle boots from a local indy if done at the same time, without alignment)

The only tools I purchased and kept were a dead blow hammer, 4 lb mini sledge, and a few extra wrenches/sockets from Harbor freight, probably about 40 bucks in tools I actually kept at the end of this job. If I kept the Harbor Freight bearing press set that would add another 90 bucks, but he sent me money as we were gonna split the tool (I don't think I'll be doing the front bearings again). I spent $8 to fabricate a special tool to draw the axle back in the hub on reinstallation (ground down axle nut welded onto a 21mm impact socket). Don't forget 9 bucks for the ear clamp tool (Advance Auto parts) on the axle boots.

The slide hammer (double brutal 10 lbs), hub puller/axle pusher tool were free after rental. Even if I kept the bearing tools I'd still be into this job for 150 in tools, total.

Use of jack handle as a "cheater bar" since I don't have impact gun - FREE
Dremeling the race off the hub and reusing the stock hub - FREE (saved 180 bucks on both sides)

Then my parts breakdown as follows:
Bearings - 90 bucks for pair
Circlips - 10 bucks for both
Dust shields on hub - 12 bucks for both
OEM GKN Loebro axle boot kits - 30 for the pair
New bolts/nuts for the strut (I like to replace hardware when I can) - 20 bucks


I'm lucky enough that I didn't run into Dave's problem and have a seized wheel sensor, mine both came out smoothly and were fine, and I'm lucky nothing else broke. But seriously, for $150 in parts, and $150 on tools, even though it literally took me two weeks start to finish (I seriously take my time with a job like this, and don't work on it every day), I still saved $1000 bucks that I ended up needing for some work around the house, so it was a win win in my book. It does feel rewarding knowing I did it myself and did it right, most of all, but definitely a job I do NOT want to do again!

And to think I "only" took my knuckle to a shop to have the bearing changed. My hat's off to both of you.

And I truly appreciate ya'lls support. I did take my time to make sure everything was put back correctly and torqued properly. Quite the challange to be laying underneath with that long T-wrench on some of those arm bolts. I should invest in a smaller T-wrench. The one I have I got 30% off at AutoZone for buying my bearing there.

Ricky, I ventured into our new-to-the-area Harbor Freight for this task for the first time and was impressed; lots of tools for c-h-e-a-p. I got my 4 lb sledge for $8 and the long hammer-end chisle for $4 (that I used to pop the CV axle from the differential). I think I'm going to enjoy that place

Awesome to hear, yeah I love HF for tools on the cheap, some are shit quality but will get you through the job (for example a circlip plier set just made it through both sets of circlips but were basically toast after the big honkers on the X5, I tossed the set out but it was 8 bucks so no biggie)

I have breaker bars from harbor freight, they work awesome. Jack stands, awesome. My jack is from harbor freight, it holds up fine. I bought the 4 gallon backpack sprayer to spray my mulch beds with weed killer, works great. I have metric and SAE wrench sets, and socket sets, all are great, the 4 lb mini sledge you bought, and a few other tools from there.

Hell, I've had a few torque wrenches over the years too but its amazing that my $9.99 1/2" drive torque wrench is the most reliable and keeps working. I had a dud of a 3/8" torque wrench which stopped clicking after a year, but at 10 bucks, there is no loss there!


And don't forget your 20%/25% off coupons when you go in! They used to have a better coupon policy, for example you could bring in as many as you wanted and use per item (if I had 10 20% off coupons and bought 10 items I could get 20% off each item), now they started doing bullshit by me where I can only use "one coupon type per customer per day", and not on items "advertised on sale". So if I had a 20% off coupon and was buying a wrench set I could use it, and if I used one of those "8.99 shop towels pack of 50" coupons I could use both, but if I had additional items I couldn't use any more coupons.


So I have been bringing my wife in and making 2 separate transactions if I have to, or hell, sometimes i'll just go once in the morning and once at night, if the manager is being a hard ass that day.

I'm still somewhat on a roll; going to replace the tie rod ends when I'm changing the driver's side ball joint and TA bushing. I decided to go ahead and order new Sachs front struts so I can get those changed out as well before I have it aligned.

I ordered new strut mounts and sway bar links. And my BMW OCD caused me to also order new bumper stops today on Amazon. The bumper stops on my rear shocks were quite fatigued when I replaced those recently.


The new HF ad flyer has those click-type torque wrenches on sale for $9.99.

git er done!

I ended up needing to replace my tie rods after my bearing/cv boot job because the adjusters were totally effin seized and I couldn't get my alignment done. However those are so easy, just be careful with the boots (don't rip them) and you can reuse the clamps if you are careful, 2 wrenches and the tie rod is off extremely easy. Make sure you don't drive more than a few miles after those though, your alignment will be totally off to all hell.


I have a 1/2" and 3/8" click type torque wrench from harbor freight, I use the 1/2" for doing my lug nuts and anything with higher torque value (I used on my strut nuts too), the 3/8" I use for oil pan drain plug, etc.

For 10 bucks they can't be beat and they still click every time, the trick is to store them unlocked, at minimum torque, and to not use them for torqueing outside their usable range. I have 2 years on both already and they have more than paid for themselves, I'd buy another in an instant if I needed to.

If you measure the existing tie rod from center of the bolt holes and adjust the new one to that length you can get reasonably close to the previous alignment--better than nothing.

x2 that's what I did per the advice of members like yourself, worked out well but I still recommend it being done as soon as possible afterwards.

You can also just measure with a tape across the front of the tires, and the back, and go for 1/8" toe in as measured with the tape. That will hold you until you get it done, and is much more accurate than measuring at the tie rod itself due to the increased distance from the axis of rotation, apart from not wanting to replicate an old toe in measurement that might have been wrong to start with.

:iagree: Either way, I don't consider the job done unless it is properly aligned ASAP--say 100 miles, hopefully much less.