Rear Suspension/Wheel Bearing Install...

Originally Posted by cn90

Thanks Michel,

So this tool set you mentioned 14-Piece Gear Puller Set is the only tool set we need?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=30305
Can you use this tool set to pull the hub-bearing assembly out, then using the same set to remove the INNER race from the Hub?

Yes, that is the tool set that will remove the inner race from the hub. It comes in a red case and looks like this:




However, I would not recommend using it for removal of the bearing/hub assembly from the car. It will not be able to handle the force necessary to get it off - the part of the tool that fits in between the race and the hub is very, very thin. It will easily snap with the force necessary for hub removal from the car. The splines that hold the hub and bearing together usually have a good amount of surface rust that makes them rally hard to get off. You will need a 3-jaw puller to get the assembly off, and I would highly recommend using a hydraulic version. Problem with the regular 3-jaw puller is that wen you start torquing it, the assembly turns and the puller has the potential to slip off due to the amount of force exerted on it. The hydraulic 3 jaw puller allows you to use the hydraulic force to move the assembly out without having to exert any force on the assembly while turning the large bolt.

Mine were in so tight that I broke the largest 3-jaw hydraulic puller HF carries. I also bent a 2 jaw Craftsman forged puller in the process. The 12 ton hydraulic puller popped it out with no drama whatsoever.

Great write up! I started the job and everything is as you describe. The wheel speed sensor is a little bit stubborn but I managed to remove it without damage. The hardest part so far has been removing the hub.(Thats not 100% true finding the right tools for the job has been painful.) My mac tools 6 ton puller isn't up to the task. You refer to a hydraulic 12 ton from HB about $60 excuse my ignorance but what is HB? I have googled and seen the kit but can't find where to buy. Any options would be welcomed!
Thanks Dave

p.s. I put the car back together and am still enjoying the pleasant howl of my right rear wheel bearing.

Originally Posted by DH540

Great write up! I started the job and everything is as you describe. The wheel speed sensor is a little bit stubborn but I managed to remove it without damage. The hardest part so far has been removing the hub.(Thats not 100% true finding the right tools for the job has been painful.) My mac tools 6 ton puller isn't up to the task. You refer to a hydraulic 12 ton from HB about $60 excuse my ignorance but what is HB? I have googled and seen the kit but can't find where to buy. Any options would be welcomed!
Thanks Dave

p.s. I put the car back together and am still enjoying the pleasant howl of my right rear wheel bearing.

HB = Harbor Freight Tools .

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpis...eyword=bearing

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93980

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=66657

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpis...draulic+puller

Michel did a great job with this REAR Suspension DIY.

To complement Michel's DIY, This is my 1998 BMW 528i COMPLETE FRONT SUSPENSION OVERHAUL:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=399580


Now it is COMPLETE INFO: REAR and FRONT SUSPENSION OVERHAULS!

Well,
Its great to have you guys around to keep me informed on how to keep my car going.
Thanks

I'm have trouble with this part: "...grab a breaker bar and 36mm socket and loosen the nut to wear it just breaks free..." I unstaked the nut, I've got an 18" breaker bar and put all my weight into it, hit it with PB Blaster, let it soak overnight, hit it with my 19.2V impact wrench, more PB Blaster, and breaker bar again...and still no luck.
What's the secret?

Nice write up, I agree with cn90 and tend not to fix items not broke. I have done the cooling system overhaul before anything broke down or acted up.

Originally Posted by E39Convert

I'm have trouble with this part: "...grab a breaker bar and 36mm socket and loosen the nut to wear it just breaks free..." I unstaked the nut, I've got an 18" breaker bar and put all my weight into it, hit it with PB Blaster, let it soak overnight, hit it with my 19.2V impact wrench, more PB Blaster, and breaker bar again...and still no luck.
What's the secret?

It is on there pretty tight. If you are loosening the driver's side, then you want to make sure you are exerting the force down and on the left side of the wheel - the bar will be on the left/front side of the car. It will be opposite for the passenger's side. This will ensure that the car does not lift in the process.

The longer the breaker bar, the easier it is.

Thanks!
I'm working on the passenger side and it looks rusted solid. I was exerting force down towards the back of the car (counterclockwise when facing the nut). I'll find a long pipe to put on the breaker bar, more patience, and some more PB blaster before I go into round # 2. By the way Michel...that's a clean 525i...what do you use for polish and wax and what's your method to get that kind of gloss?

Those axle nuts are some of the toughest I've ever gotten off. I bought the biggest 1/2" breaker bar harbor freight had, ignored the warnings on the handle, and put a 4' cold steel plumbing pipe on the end. Then, the hard part is keeping the socket on the nut (perhaps recruit a strong friend). My 1/2" breaker bar didn't break, but it definitely could at this kind of torque. ATTEMPT AT YOUR OWN RISK! Be careful not to scratch the fenders!

With the added leverage you can double your applied force, I was able to do it by myself, pushing hard into the socket with a knee and one hand, pushing down on the end of the bar with another. Works best if you give it one hard, calculated "bounce".

Don't get a hernia...

Originally Posted by E39Convert

Thanks!
I'm working on the passenger side and it looks rusted solid. I was exerting force down towards the back of the car (counterclockwise when facing the nut). I'll find a long pipe to put on the breaker bar, more patience, and some more PB blaster before I go into round # 2. By the way Michel...that's a clean 525i...what do you use for polish and wax and what's your method to get that kind of gloss?

Thanks...I use Zaino Products. I use the all-in-one Cleaner/Polish and then do the final coat with Z8 once a year. The rest of the year I just wash it and put a coat of Z8 and she shines.

Looks like I got myself a weekend project!

I'm thinking about tackling this job as my right rear bearing is starting to go. I looked up the procedure in my Bentley and they talk about removing the outer swing arm nut and bolt and also removing the upper front control arm (traction strut) and upper rear control arm. I don't see where you mentioned doing that prior to removing the bearing and hub. Is that necessary? Or is it that you press the axle shaft out enough to get to the E14 screws from behind and that way avoid removing all the other suspension components? I redid my rear suspension about a year ago and don't want to go through that part again. The bearing was of course fine then!

Thanks,

Tom

Originally Posted by TomViers

I'm thinking about tackling this job as my right rear bearing is starting to go. I looked up the procedure in my Bentley and they talk about removing the outer swing arm nut and bolt and also removing the upper front control arm (traction strut) and upper rear control arm. I don't see where you mentioned doing that prior to removing the bearing and hub. Is that necessary? Or is it that you press the axle shaft out enough to get to the E14 screws from behind and that way avoid removing all the other suspension components? I redid my rear suspension about a year ago and don't want to go through that part again. The bearing was of course fine then!

Thanks,

Tom

I changed out all of my rear suspension when I replaced my rear bearings. However, I don't think you really need to remove the arms to replace the bearing. If anything, it might just require you to disconnect the front and rear control arms that connect to the knuckle.

That said, the only thing this will accomplish is to allow the rear carrier to move more freely in the vertical position. I am not so sure it is necessary for this, but not entirely sure if this is what gave me the clearance I needed to remove the bearing mounting bolts. I had my arm jacked up most of the time during the procedure.

Michel,

Thanks for this post, it was invaluable to me. I got this done last night. I started Tuesday night and worked on it for about 4.5 hours. I struggled with the last bolt holding the bearing in place. This was on my right rear wheel and it was the upper rear e14 bolt. I probably spent an hour trying to get at it and just couldn't get the angle right to get it undone.

I finally started unbolting the upper suspension components. First the shock, no dice! Next the wishbone, nope. The traction strut and finally the integral link to wheel carrier. I still couldn't get at it. At this point I began to wonder if I had pushed the axle far enough in with puller. That 12 ton puller from Harbor Freight is a monster!! It was really hard to get it in place and get it to stay there while pumping it even with my son helping because it is huge and weighs so much! I don't think mine was stuck as much as yours and I should have probably tried a smaller puller I had first, but the sheen of that brand new tool was glinting in my eye and I had to use it.

Anyway, when I put it back on and pressed some more, the axle moved back a lot more and cleared the way to get the last bolt. In retrospect, I might have been able to get the last bolt without unbolting the suspension if I had pressed the axle in far enough in the first place! Then again maybe not!

The bearing came right off the wheel flange, but the inner part stayed on the flange as predicted. I used the same bearing separator that you did and couldn't get under the bearing sleeve and get it off. It was bending the edges of the tool! At this point I decided I was too tired to continue and cleaned up, ate and went to bed. The next morning (Weds) I tried the bearing separator again and used a groove in the sleeve a little higher up to get a grip and it came right off!! Sweet!!

Last night after work I dug back in about 6PM. I had received my parts from Pelican earlier and started putting it back together. I had to remove the parking brake shoes in order to get a good grip on the wheel flange. They just didn't go on like they came off and I had to adjust the cable to get them set right. Everything seems to work OK, but it doesn't seem like I should have had to adjust the cable. I looked at your pics and made sure I got it back together right, so hopefully this won't come back to bite me.

The scariest part of the reassembly was beating the wheel flange back into the bearing. Man it seemed like the bearing was taking a beating and was getting looser. Time will tell. I may have screwed up this part as the axle shaft wasn't coming out far enough to get the nut on so I kept beating. After it was almost all the way on I messed with the axle and it popped though with room to spare to get the nut on! I had tried that earlier, without success, so I don't know. My advice to anyone else doing this is that the wheel flange doesn't have to be that far in to get the axle through, so keep trying to input the shaft in the flange as you go.

I finished last night around 10PM and took it for a test drive and it was the quietest ride I had had for a long time! Success!!! Thanks again Michel for the excellent right up and offer to help!!

Tom

For the record, cn90 posted a new rear wheel bearing DIY just now:
- E39 (1997 - 2003) > DIY: 1998 528i REAR Bearing the Easy Way!

For those reading this excellent thread by mmm635, the proper torque for the four (4) E14 bolts is not 30 Nm, which is way too low for something holding a critical component such as a wheel bearing.

It is 30 Nm, followed by a 90-degree turn. These are TTY bolts.

and for these who already did it with 30 Nm you need re-torque them ASAP
70-80 Nm , its 20 min work

is it possible to get some updated links to the pictures and to the harbor freight tools that would work best? im good on the 3 jaw puller, just not sure which bearing tool set for the job. i plan on doing the front too so a tool that could do both would be best. here is a link to harborfreight with the keyword "bearing" http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...sult?q=bearing

for those of you looking for the puller, this is the one you would want i believe.
http://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-...ler-66657.html

earlier posts talk about a mac tools 5 ton not doing the job so a 5 ton HF puller is probably not going to do the trick in some instances.

Go to post #41 by bluebee, click on the link. In that DIY, I listed the bearing adapter kit that you can rent from Advance Autoparts for free.

Just put down a deposit by VISA, rent it, once you return it, they refund the credit to your VISA card.

Autozone lends me tools for 90 days, as CN90 intimates, and you never pay a penny if you return it within that time frame.

Re-reading this thread, I came across TTY bolts in cn90 post #42 above. I checked the BMW acronyms listing, and it wasn't there, so I just added it so that all abbreviations and acronyms used in this E39 forum are covered:
- BMW E39 technoterms, acronyms, glossary, definitions slang, technical terms, abbreviations (1)

Here's what I added:
TTY = Torque to Yield bolts, fasteners designed to be torqued to the point of plastic deformation (never reuse them)

Originally Posted by cn90

These are TTY bolts.

Didn't even think to check your wheel bearing DIY for tools.... That's much better than me buying the tool. I usually do rent tools someone earlier in this post pointed out the autozone tool was crap. Ill have to check advance. I know sometimes they vary too. Thanks for the help can't wait to learn about suspension work, its the one major component item I've never dealt with.

For the crosslinked record, this related information was posted today...

Originally Posted by Joelgk

I thought it would be right to start a new thread here.

Have been searching the forum the last few days to get a list of all the bushes that can/ought be replaced at the rear for a complete over haul of the rear suspension. There are several posts for "How to replace the suspension" meaning shox, sway bars, ball joint, springs etc, but very few that lists how to replace the rest of the parts such as guding links, rear wish bones etc. Maybe because it is a simple job.

What is really intriguing is that, last week when I was looking at all the bushes that need to be replaced (to correct the rear wheel wobble), there is no single thread where all this was put together, while you can find several threads on the front suspension listing all possible bushes and parts that can/should be replaced.

So starting with my small contribution here, can the more knowledgeable members add on the other part nos: as well..

1. The Ball joints are : 33326767748
2. The Guiding suspension Link: 33326768791
3. The WishbonesL/R are: 33326767831
4. The Intergal links are : 3332670749 (is this for the full link with the rubber bush at one end or just the metal link pipe? Need clarification.

Missing from RealOEM and any other reference is the part nos: of the two bushes on each of the Rear Swing part (33326755471/2).

What are the other bushes that ought to be looked up?

Please add on and assist...Thank you all.

Originally Posted by bluebee

I've never touched my rear suspension but if I were to, I'd start by typing /suspension F3 in the bestlinks, which nets, among others, these threads and pdfs:
- BMW_suspension_systems_training_all_BMW_including_ E39.pdf (1.31 MB, 133 views)
- How to replace rear wheel bearings (1) (2) (3) & a rear axle suspension & wheel bearing installation DIY by mmm635 (1) (2) & rear bearings done the cn90 easy way (1) or the Smolck slide-hammer way (1)
- How does the touring rear suspension differ from the sedan rear suspension (1)
etc.

For all those who have completely overhauled the rear suspension, can you please post here all the part nos: and list of bushes....

Originally Posted by Joelgk

For all those who have completely overhauled the rear suspension, can you please post here all the part nos: and list of bushes....

bushes ==> bushings

Isn't that list already in cn90's DIY?