How to Remove BMW Front Axle - CV Axle on BMW E90/E92 xDrive

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As part of the engine removal process, I had to remove the front axles or as BMW calls them the front output shaft. This process isn't hard once you know what you are trying to do. To remove the axle, you have to start by jacking up the car, removing the wheel and then removing the collar (or axle) bolt and the compression spring. Once that's removed, you have to undo track rod end, wishbone, guide joint with the trailing link and the anti-roll bar link. Once all of those are removed from the wheel hub, you can then knock out the axle from the wheeling bearing hun and knock out the other end from the front axle differential. This process is of course only on the BMW xDrive systems such as the BMW 335xi, BMW 328xi on the e92 and e90 platforms, but also many other BMW vehicles.
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[@SimpleCarGuy]

Thank you everyone for watching. Consider subscribing for more car content! Check out why I bought a BMW 335xi: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIbcc2lnqrCIirc

[@erlomotorsport]

Hello. For the next time you have to remove a driveshaft. I hold the driveshaft with the oil filter release strap and lever it out. If it slips because it requires a lot of force, I put a clamp on the driveshaft and lever on the clamp. You have to push the driveshaft towards the box and give it a sharp blow with the lever to remove it, otherwise the circlick gets stuck and does not close to come out. Great video and good luck mate.

[@wikwyre]

Did you put it back together? You only filmed half the job!

[@ThunderbirdRocket]

Extraordinary detail ! Super helpful !! I learned lots !!! Thanks mate . 👊🏼

[@chiragraju9498]

Thank you for the video, very helpful information here especially for home mechanics!

[@SimpleCarGuy]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching.

[@bmak24]

great video with tons of practical advice. thanks!!

[@albertonunez851]

Good work! and yes you helped me.

[@zapata420]

Ive never seen a ball joint come apart that easy. This is crazy.

[@SimpleCarGuy]

The other side wasn’t as easy!

[@micahdornbusch3555]

Great video but please tell me you did other maintenance

[@sinohoeung8282]

Where do you order the plastic when you pry off and break

[@bradysolaem2467]

an oversized chisel usually works if its got sum to wedfe against while hammerefd

[@atrank]

Any comments or views of the snap ring on the inside end of the axle? I had a specialty euro garage replace the passenger side front axle. Soon after that, I had the dealer replace the oil pan gasket and they found that the snap ring was twisted and jammed, so they had to cut the axle off!!! Now my driver side front axle needs replacing (rusty swelled ABS ring) and I want to avoid this mistake again.

[@GLPVideo]

Any luck finding the plastic rings at the end of the axle? I can't find them

[@michaelturner8661]

To break the 36mm bolt loose I use a breaker bar and a floor jack to apply force to the breaker bar. Breaks it loose with no effort at all.

[@SimpleCarGuy]

That's a great idea! I'll use that next time, thanks.

[@BMWBoyeeM3]

Would the jack apply the opposite force? About to do this so super interested

[@BMWBoyeeM3]

Lol. I figured it out. Thanks for the idea

[@bmak24]

genius.

[@yotaismygame]

Thank you. On the part where you used a breaker bar to make it fit next to the boot, could you not just use an extension with a ratchet?

[@SimpleCarGuy]

My ratchet’s head was too big to fit in there. Thanks for watching!

[@stehlfamilyfarm6886]

I've never had a bmw ball joint come out that easy lol

[@stevefriess7074]

Do you have a video on how to change the Front wheel bearing on a 2011 328I X Drive. There are not any videos on the xdrive wheel bearing replacement

[@SimpleCarGuy]

Unfortunately, I do not. I only work on my own cars and I've never had a 328i or had to replace the wheel bearing on any of my cars. Also, it should be the same on 335 as it is on 328 as long as they are both xDrive.

[@ricoesse9364]

thx for the video !! what was the reason you put new axle s on ?

[@SimpleCarGuy]

I took the engine out and to do that, I had to remove the axles.

[@robertbarrett3507]

Hello there, I was wondering if the power steering pump is attached to the oil pan?

[@711lorena]

Yes

[@scottcrawford4148]

It must have been hard to record that process on video - thanks

[@aimized1460]

Does this really have to be done in order to do the oil pan gasket on these xdrives models ? What if you didn’t bang it out of there and instead proceeded to get to the oil pan and just try to drop it while removing the difff side that’s in the pan ???

[@e.e9331]

absolutely, one the most retarded things bmw does until now. 30$ gasket costs 1500$ with labour. i love bmws but this shit is frustrating esp on some cars leak starts even at 100kKM

[@e.e9331]

no other way around it you ahve to take cv axles out completely to do oil pan gasket

[@McCulloughSim]

Can you make a list of all of the tools I’ll need?

[@SimpleCarGuy]

You'll need a standard mechanic's tool set to remove some nuts on the suspension. At the very least a wrench set going all the way to 24mm. Specific to this job, you'll need the axle nut wrench. I have links in the description!

[@TRACY51167]

So the BMW has a closed Transmission except for this access.... so how much trans fluid did it leak out? Do you need to refill it?

[@SimpleCarGuy]

It’s the differential fluid, not the transmission. I refilled it until it started coming out of the fill hole.

[@Nathan-gj8ch]

I see you have an lower oil leak i had one like that too xdrive e92 I replaced all the aluminum oil pans bolts with longer full threaded steel oil pan bolts from a civic and the leak went away. some of the heads on oil pan just fell off when I touched them.

[@chiragraju9498]

curious to know if you had any electrolysis issues using steel in place of aluminum? I've heard BMW strongly recommends against that

[@Nathan-gj8ch]

@@chiragraju9498 All the Honda blocks I have are alu and steel bolts if it works for a NSX with 250k miles or a d16 with 720k I'm willing to bet it will be ok on any block. I strongly recommend using fasteners that don't fall apart after 90k miles. If galvanic corrosion was really an issue then BMW and ZF would not have put steel spacers and steel bolts on the trans pan.

[@SimpleCarGuy]

Hey I never saw this comment. It was t clear in the video but the reason I was removing the drive shafts was because I was removing the engine from the car. The reason for the oil you see is.. a 2 inch hole in the oil pan. I have awhile series in how I removed it and rebuilt it if you’re interested.

[@tbechavez3046]

Do you need to give her a realignment afterwards? Since you didn't twist the tierod

[@SimpleCarGuy]

Nope, not needed as long as you remove the wishbone from swivel bearing only. If you remove from the other side, you'll have to get an alignment.

[@edwardhenry7119]

Is that the same as a 2007 328XI E92 procedure?

[@SimpleCarGuy]

It should be very similar, the oilpan/transaxle might look a little bit different, but the rest of the steps are the same.

[@xx_g3t_rekt__xx603]

question?, i want to make my car completly rwd, im gonna keep the outer and inner cv joints and just remove/cut off the axle, is it fine to just leave the inner joint in the gearbox or will it come out over time?

[@stylestealer]

Bro don’t do this, search up how to disengage the front axles by coding it. This way you can turn off x drive and be completely rwd and still have the option to go back to xdrive

[@xx_g3t_rekt__xx603]

@@stylestealer i already have x-delete, i lowered the car but i want to take the axles out so i can lower it a bit more, right now the axles bend so much that they stop the car from going lower and im afraid that they gonna come out when i drive, im never gonna make it 4wd again anyways

[@rbitrossome]

Why do you have to take the CV axles out to remove the engine?

[@SimpleCarGuy]

The differential is attached to the engine and the CV axles are inside the differential. So, unless you want to drop the subframe to detach the differential, this is the easier way.

[@rbitrossome]

@@SimpleCarGuy Ah, ok. Thanks. I'm starting the process of taking an N55 out of an F10 and your videos are a big help! Thanks for the series!

[@Bigguccitana.]

Can you drive an xdrive without the front axel?

[@SimpleCarGuy]

Technically, yes. But I would definitely not recommend it. You would have oil leaking out of the front diff etc. The drive shaft might also be doing some kind of support for the wheels.

[@Bigguccitana.]

@@SimpleCarGuy my biggest concern was support for the wheels after removing the front shaft but I’ll just replace it instead

[@user-io4sr7vg1v]

@@Bigguccitana. The vehicle does not need to support the front wheels from the drive axle. If you look at the rear wheel drive models they have all the same components but without the front drive axle. I figure if you could seal the area where the drive axle is connected to the front differential you would have a rear wheel drive model but with the added weight of the front differential.

[@autohut3720]

Man getting that axle out the differential is a royal pain in the ass. I was doing the passenger side and it’s even worse I think

[@SimpleCarGuy]

Oh don't I know it! The passenger side was worse, strictly because it took me good 20-30 minutes to get it loose.

[@Sti.king2k]

What about the fkin passenger side

[@SimpleCarGuy]

Exactly the same thing!