E53 Front Axle Torn CV Boot Full Replacement (Similar to E46 Xi) DIY 

I done this on my X5 yesterday and your guide worked out a treat! I didn't have to remove the metal panel under the engine as I was able to use my big pry-bar and that was able to get it out. I found for the longer drive shaft I had to unbolt the suspension so it would give me the clearance I needed. I used only hand tools for this as I like to work that way, the nut wasn't as hard to undo with my 850mm breaker bar. I have been putting this job off for ages as I thought it was going to be really hard, but it only took me 3 hours all up for both sides and I just take my time. I found out I had the original ones in the car from when it was built, not bad going to last 20 years. I only replaced mine as there was a clunking noise coming from the CV's when going over bumpy ground. I have replaced everything else suspension and steering related. Thanks for making this video!

Nice & concise, as always. A trick i learned from a mechanic, is: take the center cap off the wheel, loosen the lug nut with the wheels on the ground, same goes for putting it back on. That way you should be able to minimize stressing of suspension/steering/brake components, or your own joints, should the screwdriver decide to take a dive...

Best video I found. Did the job about a month back. 1000+ miles later and I'm still happy with the amount of money I saved doing it myself. Thanks

Thank you old 50's Kid. I struggled a mighty bit getting the lock nut off, but after that it was a breeze. CV boot, front passenger ruptured, replaced axle. I separated axle getting it off, so suspension didnt hamper the extraxction. Putting it back in, I compressed the strut with the floor jack and that did the trick. Appreciate you posting this.

I couldn't have tackled this project without your videos kid. I changed the right side on my 2004 X5. I would describe it as extremely difficult. Removing skid plate was a pain. I had to use a 2 x 4 and small sledge hammer to remove old CV. And that second control arm was held on by 2 torx style bolts that were super hard to get out. New shaft came with nut that was bigger than 36mm so I had to use the old one. So relieved it's done.

I want to sincerely thank you for this video. I'm not a mechanic but I just got this job done as well as a bearing and couldn't have done it without the visual

Today I replaced my front left axle. Thanks for your good instructions. it helped me a lot.

"Chinesium brand...on Ebay.." Waaaa! Love it. Great video, you did it without using the special tools, like a puller and ball joint splitter, that some of the other videos suggested were required. This is the way to go; minimal removal of other parts and no special tools. I would not remove the large plate, though, it is a PIA, and when you go to put it back, the sway bar ends may need to be compressed back to the plate, and those nuts on the blind side are difficult to access with a wrench. Just poke around till you have an angle to hit the inboard CV housing with a long punch and hammer, it'll pop right out of the diff, as you demonstrated. Your DIY approach to what might be daunting repairs to the average owner/shade tree mechanic are wonderful, harkening back to a time in America where pride in ownership meant personally taking care of the vehicle, not merely how great was the MSRP. Good stuff!

Good stuff - Here is an alternative that does not require backing out the ball joints: Simply take the 2 bolts off the strut assembly. The whole knuckle swings down giving plenty of access to get them in and out. - Cheers.

Thank you Kid...And others that commented with helpful additional input! 2nd on tapping in the plate hole with a long bar and removing 2 strut bolts. (Nathan's trick as well) You guys ALL rock! Cheers to the gearheads.

Great tutorial! I dont have an E53 personally, but your videos are always fun to watch and educational. I like that you really refined your "process" over time, in terms of presenting the material in the best possible manner - from a general overview of the procedure, to explaining all the tools involved to performing the actual repair. Frankly, Im surprised your subscriber base isnt growing faster, every home diy mechanic should get on board!

Thanks once again. I just replaced my e46x fronts. I would have never done this w/o your help.

Great video! I'm gonna use this to replace my right side axle on my 2004 e53. Thanks so much for going through all the tools and oils needed. Will re-post after I do the job!

You make very helpful videos....especially for the 2001/2002 X5 E53...thanks!

you can do this with out the plate removed just use a long pry bar and feed it through the center hole on the plate, then line the pry bar to the shaft and hit it with a hammer. This took me over an hour to figure out and I was so close to removing the plate also. Nice video tho as always from you :)

Great video. You have awesome skills and did a very nice job showing step by step. FYI- this repair costs around $1100 per front wheel at your local BMW dealer with a 10% off coupon. I just replaced mine at the dealer on my 2016 528i xdrive with 83K miles. Very sad that they don't last and tear up letting grease out. My left one tore up at 70K and then my right one just tore up at 83K. The BMW dealer offers a 2 year warranty and of course this all occurred after my extended warranty was up (extra $3000 I paid and never used) on my certified BMW that I paid extra for. :( I would never do this myself or trust a non-BMW dealer to do for me. This is life or death kind of repair. Meaning, if it were done incorrectly you could end up killing yourself on the highway or if you let the torn CV boot issue go to long you could lock it up and then snap your axle which would be huge money. I dont recommend wasting money on an extended warranty unless you get one that lasts up to 100K on these cars. Most of the issues on the car start to occur after 75K which is when most extended warranties expire. Save your money for the future repairs.

Great video.Thanks for sharing your efforts does for sure go a long way in helping us the DIYers. Keep it going.

Hey man, how are those off brand axles holding up. What brand are they. Thanks for the video BTW.

Thank you so much was very helpful and detailed I appreciate your efforts thank you so much

Thank u for this video, i will do both front next weekend

Traded off my 330ci for a Mustang GT, but enjoy all your videos so will stay subbed. Thanks for another great video.

Preparation is the best way to reach your destination.....

will be a subscriber for life what an awesome vid.. Just finished doing mine would of been lost without this vid

❤❤❤❤❤ thank you so much for your wisdom. I own 2002 e46 330xi

Good video, Just got a 2006 X5 Your videos are going to help me a lot Please keep them coming

Thanks for making this video. Exactly what I needed to know!

Great video. I did driver side by removing the lower control arm, but found that removing the strut was much faster on teh passanger side. I would recommend removing the strut housing instead of removing the lower control arm, it is much faster.

Thanks mate I'm about to do mine on both sides. This is been great video tutorial. Well done and thanks again.

Great video love the instruction but the only thing they had me concerned with the fact that you didn’t have any safety shoes on once again great video

Thanx E50sKid. Brilliant informative video !!

Nice work!

Legit legend right here..

Excellent; all your videos are excellent. Thank you!

I will say I'm jealous how easy things come apart when you don't live in Pennsylvania. Lol. One way to preload the suspension to tighten the control arms would be using a floor jack under the ball joint. Much easier to tighten with a jack in the way rather then a tire.

Thank you for this video. Just done mine thanks to this. Still yet to test it to make sure the wheel don't fall off hahahah

Great video, as always! So 2 years later how have the Chinese axles held up?

Good video You make it look so easy keep up the good work thanks

I'm going to tell the mechanic this guy did it in 15 minutes and 57 seconds lol

Are these aftermarket axles still alive and kicking? Nice video. I need to recondition mine ones because of boots look bad.

"Chinesium" brands for win ! 😄 You make helpful videos man, thanks.

Thanks Jason. It really helped.

For those who think the 50sKid is not joking here: 3:21; 12:21 The Rust Belt is a region of the United States, made up mostly of places in the Midwest and Great Lakes, though the term may be used to include any location where industry declined starting around 1980. Rust refers to the deindustrialization, or economic decline, population loss, and urban decay due to the shrinking of its once-powerful industrial sector. Otherwise, a great tutorial here.

GREAT VIDEO MEN THANKS FOR SHARING .... ALWAYS HELPFUL TO WATCH ...

I did the driver side CV axle and when I put the after market part , it seems like theres a little gap when trying to seat it in .. I did use the outer part of the axle to bang it in . Thanks in advance

Glad I'm not the only one who finds popping the axle a bitch at times.

on point my man thankyou.

Great directions. Tell me, when replacing the longer, right side axle, is there anything unique that we need to do or be aware of when removing? The right front axle is longer. It passes thru something. Just wanted to ask before I tackle the job. Thanks!

I wonder how those cheap CV shaft assemblies are working out. I once bought 'premium' GKN chafts for my Porsche 924S and found that they were not new as advertised, but rebuilt. Not only that, they had been assembles incorrectly, and the balls and 'races' (inner and outer parts with the grooves the balls slip around in) they reused were badly pitted and should've been discarded.

Brave man to wear flip flops in the shop

It's kinda funny because at 7:03 it looks like its starting to come out but then you stop. Good video though!

Hey 50sKid, great video! Thank you! Do you also have video about replacing the front differential seal?

Hi there in the videos everything looks so easy but it isnt. The bolds are to tide to get lose. I spent 40 minutes on a single bolt so i only change a tie rod and i give up. I think that a power tool is a must for these jobs otherwise you make a all day long for three bolts.

I've watched lots of your excellent videos - mostly for the e46 (we have a 325....) vacuum leaks and replacing the oil breather system - immensely helpful - so thanks again. I recently bought an E53 X5, and the front boots are just about to tear so will have to do this job (might just replace the boots though...). Re the circlip holding the inner end of the drive shafts into the diff - do these remain in the diff - or do you replace them on the end of the shaft first? As for removing the shafts from the hub - I just had to remove the rear hub - and they were rusted in - I undid the control arms and then used a three arm puller to effectively pull the hub towards me and push the shaft out the back. Was a bgger getting it back on - had to thump the face of the hub (block of wood over it) with a big hammer until I could get the nut back on to wind it on... hope that helps someone in a similar situation! Thanks again - and keep the BMW vids coming!

Really helpful thank you.

Factory CVs are good for at least 250k.... the rubber boots split often. If the CV is clean and tight just replace the outer boots with quality Italian ones (i like Topran). The outer CVs come appart quite easily. Most aftermarket axle boots aren't any better that factory ones anyway.

Hi 50s Kid thanks for the video. If the front cvs are removed can the vehicle drive using the rear axale?

Thank you!

My passenger from axel broke. I’m curious about doing the work myself. I do have a lot of tools. I feel that your videos is very helpful. I have a 2007 X5 4.8i. Is the work the same? And if the right one is broken, do I have to do both sides?

Very helpful thank you

How did these parts hold up? Still using or did you have to replace since video?

Sir I did it this job today with the same axel part you used in your video. My question is the after market seem to have a gap and there is no way to hummer it in more. Is it just like that? I spin the axle and it got grip because it turns both rotors. Please post a picture of the installed aftermartket. Thank you.

Did you have to drain the dif oil before removing the driveshaft or does it all stay contained?

Thank you for explaining this in great detail. I have an 02 325xi and it wont move at all, i can feel it shift but it wont move at all but makes a slight grind noise in park. It feels like it wants to move and I was reading online that this could be a cause that the clip might have not pressed in the CV axel all the way. Could the clip not cause it to move at all or probably an internal issue?

About how long did it take you to do this job? I want to do it myself and am curious how long it will take

just a quick one , ever done the dust shields for the front brakes ? mine are corroded to hell and just wondering how easy they are to change ?

"You want to torque those to factory spec." *(uses a plain 2 ft long ratchet with no torque indication whatsoever)*

hi, did you have to change the oil at any point or will it come out when you change the CV?

You have great videos Jason I have a question I have a 2001 x5 3.0 my climate is broken .The problem is my heater wont shot off every time I drive it the heater is always on what shall I do . Can any body help me any suggestion what shall I do?

How long does these Chinese axles last even when new? The GKN brand is much more expensive but all the indy bmw shops use them as they don't fail.

So I purchased an x5 with bad front diff. Thinking that the previous owner drove with no oil and everything in there is just fried. I cant get the C.V. axle ends off the diff so what would a person do in that case?

Niceee

Excelent thanks

Looking for feedback on this: my son tells me that he read on a BMW forum that aftermarket axles may not provide as tight a turning circle as original BMW axles. Any experiences out there?

how do you check if front cv joints are bad on an E53 bmw? i hear some noises but they were just repaired 2 years ago.

Do those axels need the reluctor rings on to prevent the ABS lights from coming on?

Hi, how to turn off the dsc completely to check the drive?

After that you have to alignment again

How long did the aftermarket axle last?

Do you need to drain diff fluid to do this job?

I removed my passenger front side axle in order to get the lower ball joint out on my X5 e53 (Pennsylvania car...the ball joint would not come out by simply removing the torx bolts. Had to wail on the top of it it with a hammer but first had to remove axle to remove knuckle to get to the top of the ball joint.) Doing reassembly now and the original axle nut will not thread back onto the axle easily. Is a new axle nut required or is using the old one acceptable? Thanks in advance for any help.

The screw for the rotor….antisieze that little guy!

Have a question I went over a curb the other day and it ended up giving me a flat had to get it towed back home went to the junkyard to switch out the flat and when I did I was trying to go to a mechanic shop but right has I was about to go I tried going and it jus struggles to go forward and reverse like if it's locked for some reason have any ideas on what could have happened? My bmw is a 06 330xi

The video should be called shaft replacement, not boot replacement....which i want!

What is the brand name of the cv axle?

Hey 50s I need your help ASAP

do you know the torque specs

If I wear sandals when I work on my car I for sure drop painful things on my feet.

why didi american people every time need to bla bla bla so mutch pleas go immediatly to esential beceause our video make me sliping