BMW e60 e61 rear air suspension airbag air spring replacement

BMW e60 e61 rear air suspension airbag or air spring replacement
This is how i did it. You are supposed to discharge the air supply by loosening a union on the pump. I couldn't be bothered and so i didnt.
You should swap the units in pairs. I have also learnt that you shouldnt pump up the suspension from fully compressed. Not sure why as when the old airbag failed and had a slow leak, the car pumped up from fully discharged multiple times with no apparent issues?
Anyway hopefully this video helps someone doing the same job.

[@angusbentley8420]

Very simple and helpful video. For anyone struggling, I found removing the 19mm bolt from the bottom of the strut, to let the hub sag, helped a lot, gave 20-30mm more clearance to get the bags in and out

[@habsom1406]

Air bags always scared me but this video has helped to demystify them, thank you. They don't seem anywhere near as daunting as I'd previously thought.

[@zoidberg444]

Reminds me a bit of the old days when you would work at the office car park late in the evening out in the rain. haha

[@alanp6955]

Thanks, the best instruction I found on how to do it. Was worried how difficult it would be, but it was so far easy - liked the no-nonsense practical approach. I am at the halfway house though, waiting for parts so I can finish the job. Here at 297K miles on a 530d

[@blackbirdmark495]

It’s nice to know that there are other people who own & maintain a high mileage E61. Mine has got 225k on the clock & is still going strong. Excellent video & thanks . Keep up the good work.

[@matprice9521]

Same mileage on my E61 525d - and just changed the original bags :)

[@davebeat]

286k miles on my 2008 E61 525D. Great car for roadtrips. Just changing the original bags with new Dunlop ones at the moment. Cracking of the rubber on the bags was the only remark on this year's MOT.

[@matprice9521]

Thank you for this - really helped changing mine, and what a wonderfully simple job it is. Just a heads up for anyone changing the original springs - as long as your 10mm spanner for undoing the air feed nut has quite 'tight' edges (ie, it's not rounded) you'll be OK without removing the plastic around the air feed as detailed in the video.

[@nitrosilvia]

Glad it was helpful and thank you for the comment. James.

[@slammenwagen]

Mine has been sagging on a run then lofting again when I restart the car. Figured the cause was bags as it always came up well. Followed this today (including drilling the bags with a 2mm drill😂) and it went well. I managed to undo the unions by scrapping the blob of paint off the edge, they gave nice and easy. Both bags in less than an hour. Thank you very much!

[@littleguy5347]

I am 13 years old and i did exactly this then watched your video it works well🚗🚗

[@jizy5569]

damn little guy get a driving license

[@kevinnye5132]

Can’t beat a dirty video on a wet miserable Wednesday night James 😉, all good things come in pairs 😁 so Ofc advisable to do both sides at same time. Good fixed James but not easy and can see why you didn’t vid the first one 😂👍🏻

[@TheDaf95xf]

Hi buddy. Love how your fixing things on your driveway like I did back in the day lol 😂 Cheers Stevie 😎

[@ivanfernyhough3851]

Interesting that,i guess thats similar to the set up on my xj8.love how you depressurised it,no messing about lol.

[@stevebarber-bailey4246]

Thanks for sharing this video. It worked a treat.

[@stuartrigler1869]

Thanks so much! I followed this video and the job went very smoothly! Saved lots of time! Thanks again!

[@t5jerry]

great video , REALLY helpful and demystifies the process and makes it easy to see and hopefully do 😀😀

[@arturlehmann5238]

Very helpful video.Especially bit with drilling off that little plastic bit.Helped to save hundreds £££.Thanks mate

[@nitrosilvia]

No problem. If you have a real slim spanner you might not need to drill the plastic. Good luck

[@hydorah]

Hay James, I'm sure the are a lot of things you can apologise for that are within your control, but the weather, seasons and whether it's light or dark? That's OK man, we know you did you best :-) BTW my dipstick broke ages ago, the plastic part you pull on broke off. I found gluing with all that heat around to be pointless, even with epoxy so I decided to plastic weld it. I used a soldering iron, fused the broken bits together in a couple of spots then used some plastic sheet cut into thin strips as a brazing rod. Worked a treat and even looks OK. Filler plastic can always be sanded filed or whatever to be perfect if needed. Might be worth keeping in mind if heat cycles cause your 420GSi's cam sensor to fall apart

[@FITBIKEEDSEL]

Just did mines today. I appreciate your video and info 👍 pretty easy to switch them out

[@paulstephenson3167]

Thanks, was very helpful doing this myself

[@philrogers2406]

Can I have a SD Turbo update video please James

[@yamahattr6006]

Nice job not as bad to do as I thought, it would be a pig of a job. shockers can be a pain bolts that won't move so air bags not so bad

[@mddaly6082]

This has been a Public Service Broadcast

[@marklittler784]

Is it not an idea to try to get a car steam cleaned underneath before working on it.

[@kaibinrubber]

Nice video!

[@markc1921]

Reminds me of my old p38 range rover but I think they were a bit easier to do.

[@retrocarsyndicate8867]

👍

[@gb7046]

Needs more swearing James