Redneck

Just a "how-to" for any of you that get stuck like I did, maybe someday somebody can google this and come up with some help. I replaced the wrong wheel bearing first (thanks Bubba at the tire shop!). So when the noise was still there I took it to my indy and was told it was the opposite side. He wanted $300 for the job, so I figured, heck I did the first side myself for $80, I'll do this side too. The hub was absolutely frozen on the axle. Slide hammer was no help, even when adding 2 5lb dumbell weights to my contraption. I was in a real tight. Luckily I have redneck friends with redneck machine shops, lol.

Solution:

unbolt the 4 E14 bolts holding the flange to the wheel bearing carrier. Take your rotor and trace the 5 hole pattern onto a piece of plate. Drill them out (or torch them). Now you have a plate that you can take 5 grade 8 M12x1.5 bolts and screw into the drive hub of the car. Place a socket in the center of it to push on the end of the axle and snug the bolts to hold in place. Now you can take an impact wrench and slowly hit the bolts one at a time to generate enormous pressure to push the axle out of the hub. Just be SURE you have unbolted the hub first from the wheel carrier. Now you'll have the entire assembly off the car. Of course you'll need a press to seperate this, but not a problem for any shop. I blasted the hub splines with glass bead to clean it up, but you could do it with a wire brush. Also I used a die grinder with a wire wheel to clean the axle spline well before oiling it. I did not remove the drive axle from the car to do either side.

Hope this helps someone in trouble one day. I would not recommend this job to anyone that doesn't have resources (i.e. a go-to machine shop) in case you have a stuck hub like I did.

cheers!
john

biosundr

Hi John,
Sorry to bring up an old thread - but was wondering if replacing the bearing did the trick - did the noise go away?
Also - I was wondering whether your car was an xi? If not - do you know if the xi wheel bearing replacement is similar to the non-xi E60?
Thanks,
Sunny.

champaign777

no need any machine shop if you have the right tool

i have real-axle-bearing-tool E60 for rent and i would not even start this job w/o a proper tool

Was done rear bearings on E39 2 times and with the right tool its a peace of cake

E39 (96-03) Want to Buy Bmw real axle/bearing tool - BMW M5 Forum and M6 Forums

google BMW E39 rear bearing the easy way , E60 is not that different

GL !

bmwmonkey

I checked out the thread on the M5 board. Can you post some pictures on how this tool works on the E60?