How to Change Your iX Front CV Boots
Or: How to spend a weekend with your car
by Andy Messer of Columbus, Indiana
(Thanks, Andy!)
 |  | First thing to do is buy a case (or two) of your favorite tasty beverage (weimer beverage
). After that, enlist the help of a good friend (weimer beverage
). If you need, taunt him with the promise of said tasty beverage for free.
You'll of course need to plan a trip to your local tool house, unless you have a fully
equipped tool crib. I found all I need at Sears, but any quality tool will do.
Tools you'll need:
30 mm socket
breaker bar
0 150 ft-lb. torque wrench
22 mm open end wrench
-OR-
22 mm Crow's foot
Urethane/rubber hammer
Brass hammer
BMW one-time clamp wrench
Circlip remover
2-jaw 8 10" gear puller
At least 2 jack stands
Hydraulic floor jack
Trouble light
Halogen stand lights (recommended)
Various combo wrenches ranging from 10 22 mm
Various sockets ranging from 10 30 mm
Hex wrenches (nice to have the socket drive)
2 pieces of 1-1/2" angle iron about 3" long
(drill one hole for lug bolt in middle of piece close to edge see hub puller
accompanying pictures
2 Nuts (M12 X 1.25 ?)
|
Before you order any parts, now is a good time to evaluate what parts will need to
be replaced as well as what parts might as well be replaced since the stuff is already
off. As always, I recommend the use of OEM BMW parts usually gotten from the dealers
or reputable vendors. Most dealers give CCA member discounts to bring prices down
to what non-OEM stuff would cost. Plus, it's always good to build a working relationship
with one dealer to help you in the long run. For instance, My water pump went out
recently, and was going to have to wait for parts over the weekend. My parts person
offered to drive almost two hours to drop the parts off! Try to get some other place
to do that! Below is a list of possible parts to replace:
Brake pads
Rotors
Brake lines (upgrade to Stainless ?)
Springs
Shocks
Control Arms
Bigger sway bars? (I like the stock setup)
Sway bar links
I already had the car lowered (in retrospect, I could have done it myself.), so I
didn't need to change the shocks/struts/control arms. At the end is the list of
parts you will need.
Now that you have all the parts, it's time to begin!
NOTES: I highly recommend doing only one side at a time to avoid confusion
Throughout the process, inspect the underside of the car for
possible areas for concern (i.e., oil leak, failing water pump, etc).
Start by jacking the car up fairly high. Then take off the wheel. Once you have
access to the shaft lock plate, remove it by prying with a screwdriver (remove shaft lock plate
). It will most likely be destroyed. That's Ok, because you bought a new one anyway.
Then have your friend press on the brakes hard
while you remove the 30mm hub nut (use a torque intensifier if need be you know,
a cheater bar). Remove the brake caliper and pads and hang by coat hanger (not the
brake line even if you're going to change the line). Then remove the rotor by
removing the socket head cap screw (rotor
). After that, you should have easy access to the brake shield. Remove the three
bolts. After that, the ABS sensor should be in view. Remove, cover and hang out
of harm's way.
Break the tie rod nut loose with the breaker bar, then back off the nut enough to
be level with the top of the tie rod threads (tie rod and control arm
). Break loose with blows from the brass hammer. It shouldn't take too much. Now
take the 22mm open-end wrench and gauge how much torque to apply to the control arm
joint under the strut upon reassembly (see how hard to pull by tightening the nut
before loosening). Then break the nut loose and back off as much as possible. Take the
brass hammer and hit the outer-most point on the control arm to break it free from
the joint (control arm off 1
). This may take awhile as it is somewhat difficult to get a good angle on the control
arm. Be careful not to damage to protective rubber boot on the control arm joint.
Once that joint is loose, thread the M12 nuts on two of the lug bolts as far as possible.
Feed the lug through the hole in the angle iron and thread into opposing lug holes
on the hub. When drilling the angle iron, you want a good amount of angle iron exposed over the edge of the hub. Seat the gear puller screw in the splined shaft end
and the arms under the angle irons. Once the shaft is pushed through the hub, remove the strut assembly by removing
the three nuts from the shock tower and removing the sway bar links . Now is a good time to remove any dirt from the bottom cup of the strut. Store
the assembly upright.
Now it's time to cut away the old outer CV boot and clean a lot of the old grease
out (the kits from BMW give grease, boot, boot clamp and circlip). Then look to
find the circlip located on the inside of the outer CV joint. If you have iXchange,
it gives a decent picture in issue # 8 I think. Spread it apart and remove the joint with
rubber/urethane hammer. Note: I had extreme difficulty in removing the outer CV
joint, and in the process of trying to remove it, actually pulled the entire half
shaft assembly (both CV joints and half shafts -- see picture
). Either way works, but the factory service manual calls for removal of outer joint
only.
Once you have that off, remove the inside boot and finish cleaning off the joints.
Replace the boots and grease then tighten the boot clamp. Now assembly is the reverse
of disassembly (sort of!).
Reassembly of half shafts
If you got the outer CV joint off without pulling the entire half shaft assembly out,
great! If not, you just need to be concerned with aligning the splines with the
hub in the differential. Once you are sure you've done that, proceed to MAKE SURE
the inner circlip is seated in the inner half shaft groove. You should be able to feel
it lock into place.
Once done with that, you'll need to reinsert the strut into the shock tower (16 ft-lb.),
then line the splines up with the hub. Press on by placing a 2X4 (or similar) over
the center of the hub and striking with the brass hammer until the spline is close to where it was originally. You'll come back to this part later as you have to reapply
the brakes.
Replace the control arm joint nut, tie rod nut and sway bar links with the new ones,
then torque to your feeling upon removal for the control arm nut, and 22 ft-lb. for
the tie rod nut. Mount the ABS sensor, brake shield, rotor and caliper.
Once the brakes are back on, have your friend again press on the brakes while you
torque the 30 mm nut to 150 ft-lb., then take your breaker bar and torque to estimated
230 ft-lb. (the FSM lists 230 ft-lb., but since my torque wrench is only a 150 ft-lb.,
I had to improvise: Since I weigh 210 lb., I balanced on the breaker bar a distance
of one foot from the center of the hub. Close enough). Take the new nut retainer,
30 mm socket and urethane hammer to seat the retainer over the nut. Replace the
wheel and lower the car onto the ground. Recheck the torque on the strut mounts and take
it for a test spin.
Parts List (to replace only one side):
Desciption Part Number OEM Part Name Qty Needed
Outside C/V boot 31-60-1-226-155 8-RPRKIT BOOT-IX 1
Inside C/V boot 31-60-1-226-161 8-RPRKIT BOOT-IX 1
Tie rod lock nut 07-12-9-922-436 HEX NUT 1
Control arm lock nut 31-12-1-131-609 7-NUT 1
Shaft lock plate 33-41-1-124-945 PLATE 1
Sway bar link 31-35-1-701-066 8-SUPPORT-IX 1
Sway bar link nut 07-12-9-964-672 NUT 2
If you have any questions, just give me a shout at 812.343.8297
Andy