New stuff makes for a busy month

Tim Hancock · 09-22-2013, 04:37 PM

I got on a motocross kick again and bought myself a "like new" used CR250 two stroke. Probably will hit the local MX track and sign up in the vet class.

Apparently my wife felt that since I got a toy, she should get a toy so we started searching for a clean used 3.0 X5. Bought it two weekends ago from a Ford dealership in Columbus. It drove perfect when we test drove it, but when my wife pulled in the drive 2 hours later we smelled gear lube. I hopped in to pull it out to the shop to look it over and it made a horrible squeal/clunk in reverse. Ended up being a destroyed input pinion bearing on the front differential and the right CV/axle was partially dislodged. It was not a good weekend.....

We bought the car as is, but after a severe beotch session I got the dealership to mail me a check for half the cost of new parts from BMW. I ended up repairing the differential instead and replaced both front axles. The job sucked, but it made for an inexpensive nice X5 and the wife is happy now.

Had to buy a hitch, harness and trailer for an upcoming trip

We now have twins (I will take over the 330 as a daily driver)

Dana built BMW front differential would have been $1500, but a $20 bearing and a seal from Pelican fixed me right up.

1990C4S · 09-22-2013, 04:54 PM

It just leaked out and ran dry? No damage?

EarlyPorsche · 09-22-2013, 04:58 PM

Really has a Dana brand diff? Not zf?

Tim Hancock · 09-22-2013, 05:00 PM

The outer bearing was definitely damaged..... My best guess is that the front right axle had been replaced and the technician who did it, did not get the axle all the way in to engage the c-clip. The axle then came out enough to allow the oil to leak out. The outer bearing ran dry while the inner components still were getting some splash lube. I could not find any damage on the rest of the bearings or the gear teeth, so I decided to fix it.... It turned smoothly after I re-assembled and filled with Mobil synthetic gear lube. I think I am good to go.

aigel · aigel's Garage

How many miles?

I have been thinking about X5s.

G

Tim Hancock · 09-22-2013, 05:02 PM

Yep.... It is a Dana front diff and it has a GM transmission (the 8 cylinders used a German trans IIRC). Dana started building the differentials in '04 or '05 models.

Tim Hancock · 07:35 AM

106,000 miles. I wanted a manual trans to avoid future problems, but they are very hard to find around here. The 3.0 six cylinder engines are relatively trouble free but the 8 cylinders can have difficult to repair problems at high mileage

EarlyPorsche · 09-22-2013, 05:46 PM

That's a badass combination. I'd take a Dana rear over any other.

aigel · aigel's Garage

I have only ever seen a stick once and it was $18k. I don't recall the mileage, but it was an early first gen. My wife would have loved to buy it, but no way for that money. Can you share what you paid?

What is the root cause of this failure? One should not have to get gear guts out at 100k miles.

G

Tim Hancock · 09-23-2013, 02:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aigel

I have only ever seen a stick once and it was $18k. I don't recall the mileage, but it was an early first gen. My wife would have loved to buy it, but no way for that money. Can you share what you paid?

What is the root cause of this failure? One should not have to get gear guts out at 100k miles.

G

They were asking 14k I got it for 12k cash, then they refunded me another 1.1k due to the damaged diff. We scoured the internet from Chicago to Pittsburgh but were unable to find a manual trans model in decent shape/right price.

As I stated above, I "think" the root cause was an improperly installed replacement right CV/axle assembly. As far as I could find, the front differentials are not a common failure point at least on the 6 cylinder X5s. There is an issue with the short splines on the transfer case/forward driveshaft splines, but mine was fine and I re-greased the joint.