Curious if anyone has had transfer case problems with the X drives. I read of issues on the X5 and the 3 series with X drive, but have not read of issues on the E61 X drives... I've heard some confusing issues with transmission issues with transfer case issues. Anyone?

 

No transfer problems here - I'm at about 60K miles. But then again I don't have a lot of driving on snow/ice covered roads. Are you having a specific problem with your xDrive?

 

What kind of "issues" have you heard of?
The E60 transfer case is relatively weak, which is why no E60/61 535xd was ever offered. I know of people with 530xd's remapped to around 300hp that have blown up their transfer cases.

 

Kind of scary to hear that 300 HP from XD can kill the case. That's how much HP the 535 is delivered with, but I am sure the diesel pull produce tons more torque that a gas 535.

I was told to be on the listen to noise from the transfer case if you modify the motor or drivetrain. That if you run different suspension, wheel, tire combinations, that the transfer case could die a early premature, death.

The X5 forum will have a occasional owner chiming in with their particulars of noise of grinding or metallic noise prior to it's death.. Also hear that it cost as much as a transmission to replace. Not sure if the issue was ever modified by the factory with a update.

 

Excuse the ignorance on the car parts, but is the E60 transfer case in the 535 gasoline cars different than the diesel ones? Lots of people have tuned their 535's to up the power roughly to 375 HP and ft lbs of torque, and I hadn't heard of any worries about transmission or other parts, let alone any failing and the cause being blamed on the extra power?

 

The stock 535d has 428ft-lbf and the 535i some 295ft-lbf, so that's probably the main reason...

 

It depends on where/how the torque is measured. Dinan claims 420 lb-ft but I assume that's at the crank, not the wheels!

 

True, those were 'official' stats as well so all from the crankshaft. Dinan says +116 for their stage 2 which matches the 420~300 gain.

420 is huge BTW, just saw that they get 580 ft-lb from the F07/F10/F11 550i's... wow

 

Hmmm ... what does that tell us now that the 550 & 7 Series are now available as xDrive ?? Their twin turbos produce 450 lb-ft of torque?

 

True, they've must have upgraded it last fall: 535d as F10/F11 is already available as xDrive, not to mention the upcoming M550d xDrive with 545 lb-ft...