DIY - 02 745Li Oil pump/front axle support drop procedure

See my flickr set --> here for steps/pictures.

Fyi, you won't likely ever have to replace your oil pump...the oil pump on the N62 is practically indestructible. Though there is a spring that can break, it apparently very, very rarely happens.

Regardless, if there is another reason that you need to drop the front axle support, here is how, and what to expect.
 

wow amazing DIY write up Keif...

i give you props just on the attempt. you got the car put together and running now?

Oh yeah, the car is all back together and running fine now...I've actually had these pictures up for quite a while but didn't realize that I hadn't posted a link anywhere.

This was only one part of my low oil pressure troubleshooting that went on every night for the entire summer of 2008 (you can see one of my later troubleshooting plans in some of the later pictures). What a nightmare. I actually ended up dropping the oil pump twice...I did a simple replacement the first time; the second time I took it down to vacuum small pieces of plastic out of the block and heads (through the main oil bore near the crankshaft), which ended up being the actual reason for the low pressure. I think this was actually the first thing I had to do to the car aside from an oil change...what a pleasant entry into E65/E66 mechanics! Through this I did learn a lot about the engine and the various resources available for these cars, so I am thankful for that.

One of the most valuable things I learned doing this was that you really don't need any BMW special tools for a lot of things. For example, BMW lists several front axle support pieces that total a few thousand dollars -- which you supposedly need to lower the front axle support. As you can see, I found a much cheaper - and in my opinion much better - method of lowering it using just dowels threaded into the front subframe (to guide the front axle support up and down) and a single jack on axle carrier's jack pad (to raise/lower it).

As a side note, a while back I reordered some of the pictures, so if any seem out of order please let me know.
 

There the pictures are!