1994 E36 325 Coupe Rear Wheel Bearing Replacement - DRAFT

Disclaimer No warranty of any kind implied or given and no liability accepted for any loss, damage or injury, no

matter how incurred from reading or attempting to follow this document. This is merely how I

addressed an issue on a car and I am not recommending this process.

Revision history This document is in draft and unchecked.

Safety first Work should only be undertaken by competent persons

If in doubt seek expert advice or help prior to starting the job and do not attempt it.

Do not place yourself or others at risk

A method of safely raising and supporting the vehicle is required and is not covered in this

document

The braking system will be partially dismantled and additional care must be taken to avoid to

avoid inhaling or coming into contact with brake dust

Do a risk assessment before starting work. If in doubt do not attempt it.

It may not be advisable to work alone under a vehicle.

Background If a defective rear wheel bearing is diagnosed there are three main ways to address the issue:

Take the vehicle to a garage

o Pro – hassle free, no tools required

o Con – requires more money, not necessarily true if you do not have the required

tools

Remove the trailing arm and have the old bearing pressed out and a new one pressed in and

refit

o Pro – offloads the difficult part of the task to someone with a press

o Con – might have to pay for pressing and a four wheel alignment should ideally be

done after removing the arm which is additional cost

Remove bearing with arm in situ

o Pro – if you have the tools, “know how” and time this may be the cheapest option

and does not require a wheel alignment afterwards

o Con – requires most effort and you to have or acquire tools which may offset savings

This document only covers the third option, replacement in situ.

Diagnosis To diagnose this problem one or more of the following symptoms may be present:

Excessive free play

Noise – rumbling, whirring, screeching or grinding

However, this is not an exhaustive list and other components can make the same or similar sounds.

Tools These tools are required:

Comprehensive general tool collection, not limited to:

o Assorted sockets

o Assorted spanners

o Internal circlip pliers

o Large flat blade screwdriver

o Torque wrench(s)

Job specific tools, not limited to:

o 6mm hexagon bit socket

o 7mm or 8mm hexagon bit socket for brake caliper sliders <did not note size>

o E12 socket for driveshaft mounting flange bolts <check>

o Tool(s) for removing hub

o Tool(s) for removing bearing from trailing arm

o Tool(s) for pressing a new bearing into the trailing arm

Garage equipment for raising and supporting the car

Safety equipment, such as but not limited to:

o Eye protection

o Dust mask

o Gloves

Literature:

o Torque wrench settings

o List of parts that should be replaced while undertaking this task

o One of the many “workshop manuals” available on the market may fill one or more

of the above requirements

Parts list E36 rear wheel bearing febi / Bilstein 04526

Circlip BMW B33.41.1.138.648

Driveshaft nut BMW B33.41.1.132.565

Other parts the vehicle manufacturer states should be replaced, such as, but not limited to:

o Driveshaft bolts <check>

o Driveshaft “locking tabs” <check>

Other miscellaneous parts such as, but limited to:

o Exhaust back box mounting clamps

o Any other exhaust seals, bolts or assembly paste as required

Procedure 1. If possible remove the centre cap with the wheel fitted and proceed to step 7.

2. Loosen wheel nuts with the car on the ground and the handbrake applied and the front

wheels chocked.

3. Raise the car until the wheel is clear of the ground being sure to not get under the vehicle.

4. Remove the wheel bolts then remove the wheel .

5. Remove the centre cap from the wheel.

6. Refit the wheel and wheel bolts and lower the car to the ground.

7. With the car on the ground, handbrake applied and front wheels chocked loosen but do not

remove the driveshaft nut.

8. Loosen but do not remove the wheel bolts.

9. Raise and support the vehicle safely. The picture is for illustration purposes and not

supposed to be a recommendation or definitive answer as to how to do this. It is for the

individual to decide as per their risk assessment.

10. Remove road wheel. Pay no attention to the driveshaft nut, i removed and replaced this

loosely multiple times. However, it does need removing before removing the driveshaft.

11. At this point you may wish to remove the exhaust back box if working on the left side of the

car and / or lower the anti-roll bar as detailed in steps 33, 34 and 35 for clearance.

12. Mark the driveshaft, hub and mounting flange for correct alignment on reassembly.

13. Use appropriate socket (E12) and extensions to slacken and remove driveshaft mounting

bolts.

14. It May be necessary to apply the handbrake, or if it is poor the foot brake to hold the

driveshaft whilst slackening the bolts. It may also be necessary to release the brake, rotate

the shaft and reapply the brake to access all bolts. An assistant may greatly reduce the

amount of messing about this entails if working alone. Working alone under a vehicle is not

recommended in any case for safety reasons.

Note if the bolts are excessively tight it may be advisable to refit the road wheel to avoid

any risk of sheering the disk locating screw.

15. Loosen and remove the brake disk location screw using a 6mm hexagon bit.

16. Remove the brake caliper slider blanking plugs, from the rear of the caliper, with a flat blade

screwdriver.

17. Remove the brake caliper anti-rattle spring.

18. Undo the brake caliper slider bolts with a 7mm or 8mm hexagon bit <check>.

19. Slide the brake caliper off the disk and support it so that the brake pipe is not strained.

20. Remove the caliper mounting bracket.

21. Remove the brake disk. If the brake disks are worn or lipped it may be necessary to “back

off” the adjuster wheel using a screw driver through one of the bolt holes. The adjuster is

shown behind the hub in the right of the picture.

22. Remove the driveshaft nut.

23. If the driveshaft easily pushed back a little inside the hub and you have already removed the

exhaust back box if working on the left side of the car and / or lower the anti-roll bar as

detailed in steps 33, 34 and 35 for clearance, you may free the driveshaft from the diff and

slide if out of the hub and place it safely to one side.

24. If like the vehicle here, the driveshaft is seized inside the hub a hub puller may be used. I

used this slide hammer.

25. Attach your chosen hub removal tool and use it in line with manufacturer’s instructions. Use

spare bolts to avoid damaging the chamfer.

26. Slide hammer assembled ready for use.

27. Hub half out.

28. Hub removed. Note that one of the inner bearing races is still attached to the hub.

29. Note internal circlip and exposed bearings.

30. Internal circlip pliers used to remove circlip.

31. Bearing shown with circlip removed.

32. Caliper mounting bracket and caliper re-fitted loosely to avoid damage.

33. Exhaust rear section removed. Rear clamp bolts sheared. Either have spares or a means to

fix them.

34. Rear anti-roll bar to car body clamps removed both sides.

35. Anti-roll pulled down to provide clearance to remove driveshaft.

36. The driveshaft can now be unseated from the flange on the diff end and manoeuvred to

allow space to withdraw the splined end and placed in a safe place.

37. Now remove the bearing outer race from the trailing arm. I did this by using the slide

hammer shaft threaded through the centre of the bearing and putting a knurled nut that

came with the hammer and another nut on the inside. Do not remove the inner race from

the inner bearing!

With hind sight this is quite a violent way to remove the bearing and if the RTAB had been

soft might have caused other work.

A better way to do this would be to either use a proper tool or approx 3” of thick walled

steel tube of internal diameter <fill in later>mm, a 5mm plate with a hole drilled to pass

some studding through and a large thick washer. The bearing shell could then be pulled out

of the hub into the steel tube by tightening the studding. The same principles as I use to fit

the new bearing.

38. Empty bearing housing cleaned ready for refitting.

39. Improvised tool.

40. The old bearing is at the bottom. It has been sanded to make it a loose fit in the bearing

housing. The new bearing is at the top. The hose clips are put around the “join” to hold the

two bearings together and aligned end to end.

41. Improvised tool in use. Studding is passed through the bearing and hub and through “a

thing” on the other side of the hub so that tightening the nuts on the studding pulls the new

bearing into the housing. Note that the remaining inner race in the old bearing is facing the

outside.

42. Initially I was tightening a nut on the rear of the hub but the “thing” started to buckle and

cave in so I switched to the outside. As it happens the “thing” the spanner is turning on this

side bowed and then rotated remarkably easily due to the bearing race in the old bearing

taking the load and rotating freely.

43. As the bearing was pressed into the hub the hose clips slid up onto the old bearing.

44. Improvised tool removed. Bearing is seated correctly.

45. New circlip fitted.

46. Hub awaiting removal of outer bearing inner race. Hub surface must not be damaged.

47. Vinegar used to de-rust hub over night.

48. Hub bagged up to protect bearing overnight.

49. Next day, vinegar has removed rust.

50. Remove bag.

51. Improvised tool to pull hub into bearing. This must fit against the inner bearing race of the

inside bearing to ensure that as he hub is drawn into the bearing the inner race on the back

is not pushed out. The old inner race from the outer bearing was used for this as it was the

perfect size.

52. Tape used to centre sockets on the studding.

53. The assembled sockets, studding and old bearing race are positioned behind the hub with

the studding protruding out, the hub is carefully slid on followed by a socket and nut and

done up finger tight to ensure all is aligned properly.

54. Nut is gently tightened until the hub has been drawn into place, then undone and the tool

removed.

55. Hub in place ready for driveshaft.

56. Driveshaft splines cleaned.

57. Nut test fitted.

58. Driveshaft inserted aligning with all previously made alignment marks.

59. Nut fitted loosely.

60. Caliper and..................

61. ............mounting bracket removed once more and caliper supported to avoid straining brake

line.

62. Re-fit brake disk and disk location screw finger tight.

63. Re-fit caliper mounting bracket tightening bolts to the correct torque.

64. Re-fit brake caliper tightening bolts to the correct torque.

65. Fit brake caliper anti-rattle spring.

66. Replace the brake caliper slider blanking plugs, from the rear of the caliper.

67. If necessary adjust hand brake shoes. If this is done both sides and cables should be

adjusted.

68. Apply handbrake and tighten brake disk location screw to the correct torque.

69. Bolt the drive shaft to the diff flange using new bolts and locking tabs if applicable. Bolts

should be tightened to the correct torque.

It may be necessary to apply the handbrake, or if it is poor the foot brake to hold the

driveshaft whilst tightening the bolts. It may also be necessary to release the brake, rotate

the shaft and reapply the brake to access all bolts. An assistant may greatly reduce the

amount of messing about this entails if working alone. Working alone under a vehicle is not

recommended in any case for safety reasons.

Note it may be advisable to refit the road wheel to avoid any risk of sheering the disk

locating screw.

70. Re-fit the anti-roll bar clamps.

71. Re-fit the exhaust with old, new or repaired clamps as applicable.

72. Refit the wheel and wheel bolts and lower the car to the ground.

73. Fully tighten the wheel bolts if necessary.

74. With the car on the ground, handbrake applied and front wheels chocked tighten the

driveshaft nut to the specified torque.

75. Loosen but do not remove the road wheel bolts.

76. Raise and support the vehicle safely. The picture is for illustration purposes and not

supposed to be a recommendation or definitive answer as to how to do this. It is for the

individual to decide as per their risk assessment.

77. Remove road wheel.

78. Stake the driveshaft nut.

79. Refit the wheel and wheel bolts and lower the car to the ground.

80. Fully tighten the wheel bolts to the correct torque.

81. Refit the wheel centre cap.