Rear end issues

[SBSerpent]

Originally Posted by 169mph

I thought you found the problem. I was pissed and happy at the same time. It’s not a crack. the weld and shadows make it look like a crack. I took another pic from different angle. The bushings look horrible to me.

Anyone have a part number for these bushings? Mine are in the same condition.

[169mph]

As recommended, this weekend I plan to remove the wheels, spring, shocks and check the full range of the suspension to see what may be causing the rubbing. If anything, I’ll have a better view of the suspension. Okay, I left out some potentially important info. My car started to shudder when I would take off in 1st gear about the same time I saw the scratches on the cv joint flange. I thought it was a pressure plate issue. Also, I noticed yesterday that there was grease splatter above each drive shaft yoke. The transmission rear seal isn’t leaking. The drive shaft looks like it may be at slight angle from the transmission to the differential. Does this info help or muddy the water? Again, appreciate all the feed back.

[Tom Wells]

169,

This may tell you what you're curious about with respect to driveshaft angles, and much, much more!

https://4xshaft.com/blogs/general-te...veshaft-angles

Enjoy,

Tom

[hauss]

Have you removed the dust cover on the flange side of the axle and checked the flange bolts? The grease you are seeing is coming from the cv joint they are packed full of grease I would bet that the bolts are broken or something is amiss with your cv joint.

[169mph]

Originally Posted by hauss

Have you removed the dust cover on the flange side of the axle and checked the flange bolts? The grease you are seeing is coming from the cv joint they are packed full of grease I would bet that the bolts are broken or something is amiss with your cv joint.

No. I'm idiot. I just figured out what everyone was referring to when asking if the inner bolts were loose. I thought y'all were talking about the flange bolts.

I assume I need to pull the axle out to remove the dust cover so I can inspect the inner bolts. It cant be done in place?

Also, there are no noises coming from the rear end when driving. It's tough to hear anything other than the exhaust. There is very little movement of the axles/cv joints up and down or in and out. Very minimum. Less than 1/16"

Thanks, Mike

[hauss]

No you can remove the cover it will pull back far enough to check the bolts. Don"t just put back the new bolts tap the threads then locktight red then new bolts. I check this area often but like I said after I did this it has not failed .It has been about 2 years. Also I would do both sides even if the other side is good.

[169mph]

Quick update. I finally removed the rear wheels. Took me a couple of hours to remove the spinners. The spinner removal tool is well worth the money. Confirmed what I already knew. The differential inner cv joint flanges are both rubbing the sub frame. Checked cv joint boots for leaks. No grease spatter. Boots seem good to me. Now that I can see better it looks like the differential has moved in the carrier causing contact with the sub frame. Again there isn’t any clicking or banging or strange noises when I drive the car. Tomorrow l”ll pull back the inner boot. I’m afraid that I’m going damage the boot but it looks like need to pull the axles anyway. I was hoping to find the cause with pulling the axles snd cv joints. Thanks for the responses

[spdbrake]

Can you post a couple of pics that are panned back a bit. Its pretty much impossible to tell orientation, etc,,, when zoomed in like those pics are.

[bobcowan]

I've been watching this thread since last year. I am very curious as to why the carrier moved backwards like that.

My car is in the paint shop, so I can't go out and look. IIRC, the diff is mounted to the car at three points - One in the front, and two in the rear. In order to slide rearward that much, all three points would need to fail. Certainly not unheard of. If on fails for long enough, the other two would eventually follow.

When I get my car back together, I plan to investigate this. I will R&R each bolt for inspection of the bolt and bushing.

I will also put a jack under the diff and see if I can get it to move.

A while back I came across this differential brace. I think I will install that as well.

https://store.activeautowerke.com/co...racket-dsb-e36

[169mph]

Are you saying that the differential slide back causing the inner output flanges to rub the sub frame above? It’s hard for to explain what I see because I’m ignorant when talking suspensions. Does anyone know how much clearance should I gave between the top of the sub frame / carrier?

Thanks again for the help. Mike

[Gaz64]

Seems your pics are not displaying in the correct orientation for others to view.

Hence the confusion for which way is up.

To me, the inner CVs are rubbing, after the diff housing has moved UP not necessarily forward. So there is either some broken mounts, or the rear chassis frame is broken.

10mm gaps are more normal.

Gary

[169mph]

Originally Posted by Gaz64

Seems your pics are not displaying in the correct orientation for others to view.

Hence the confusion for which way is up.

To me, the inner CVs are rubbing, after the diff housing has moved UP not necessarily forward. So there is either some broken mounts, or the rear chassis frame is broken.

10mm gaps are more normal.

Gary

Yeah I definitely need to label or rotate the pics. I sure hope you are wrong. Broken chassis sounds like a cut your losses type scenario. I live in the Houston area. Does anyone recommend a shop to send my car to? wow! Thanks again for the feed back.

[spdbrake]

Back to an earlier response to the two aft diff bolts.
You had replied: "Thanks for the picture. Those bolts are there. "

But did you check if they are tight?
They're 21MM if I remember correctly and most folk's home tool sets end at 19MM.

I ask again because your diff is sliding aft in the mount and the Bolt appears to have a gap where you can see exposed threads.

[FredG]

I too have been following this. Interesting problem. What would the normal clearance be for the CV joint and the carrier? I would imagine it's pretty close.

Fred

Originally Posted by spdbrake

Back to an earlier response to the two aft diff bolts.
You had replied: "Thanks for the picture. Those bolts are there. "

But did you check if they are tight?
They're 21MM if I remember correctly and most folk's home tool sets end at 19MM.

I ask again because your diff is sliding aft in the mount and the Bolt appears to have a gap where you can see exposed threads.

[169mph]

No sir I haven’t checked to see if they are torque to specification but each bolt head is marked and all still line up with their reference marks. The only one I put a wrench on was the bottom front bushing bolt. I not 100% on the torque spec but it wasn’t torqued to spec. Not loose. Also, I’m not seeing any sub frame cracks/ weld failures. The bushings look bad to me but no one has suggested that’s the cause. I’m referring to the bushings in the the sub frame not the differential cover. It does look like the differential shifted towards the rear car. Moving the differential forward a half of an inch may give me enough clearance to stop the rubbing. I love the car and I enjoy working on cars but this is very frustrating. Especially because the car drove great the last time I drove it. The only reason I noticed the rubbing was because I always put it on my lift after taking it for a drive. Just to be safe. Thanks again

[spdbrake]

The BDR dealer in Tomball Tx (NW houston) James Yale owner of Radical Roadsters. Great reputation btw.

[169mph]

Originally Posted by spdbrake

The BDR dealer in Tomball Tx (NW houston) James Yale owner of Radical Roadsters. Great reputation btw.

Thanks. I spoke with James today. He was very friendly and willing to help. He asked me to send for some pictures and had me check a few things. BTW I sent better pics than the ones I posted here. I don’t think this is something he’s seen before. I’ve decided that this something an expert should handle. I plan to drop the car off with James at Radical Roadsters as soon as his schedule frees up. I’ll keep everyone posted on what’s found. Thanks for the help!

Mike

[hauss]

Originally Posted by 169mph

Thanks. I spoke with James today. He was very friendly and willing to help. He asked me to send for some pictures and had me check a few things. BTW I sent better pics than the ones I posted here. I don’t think this is something he’s seen before. I’ve decided that this something an expert should handle. I plan to drop the car off with James at Radical Roadsters as soon as his schedule frees up. I’ll keep everyone posted on what’s found. Thanks for the help!

Mike

Please keep us posted, I am very interested . like I said, I have had problems with mine too so ,if there is something else going on, I would like to know about it thanks.

[spdbrake]

Originally Posted by SBSerpent

Anyone have a part number for these bushings? Mine are in the same condition.

The fitment you need to look for is 1992-1999 E36 325I.

I used an assortment of brands for front suspension, rear, rear diff and rear suspension support.
Some thru ECS Tuning https://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E36-32...n/Control_Arm/
Some thru SuperPro in AU. https://superpro.com.au/find/superpr.../cid-999500343
Lower rear control arms thru Powerflex. https://www.powerflexusa.com/shop/pr...ory=1783#attr=
And diff and carrier supports thru Garagistic. Their full kit prices can't be beat I wish they had a full product line back when I did my car. https://www.garagistic.com/products/...xoCHbUQAvD_BwE
And some items from Nolothane. https://www.nolathane.com/collection...4831232?page=2

I still need to replace the front and rear sway bar bushings with Poly ones.

PS. You'll need this kit to do the rear suspension bushings and rear axle bearings. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The front lower control arm and rear subframe bushings can be drilled and the the outer band sawzalled to release them. Or have a hyd press handy.

[169mph]

I'm still searching for the cause of the subframe rubbing before shipping the car to Radical Roadsters. I notice the springs top plates aren't in the same location. It looks like the passenger side has shifted towards the rear of the car by 1". The passenger side spring isn't square to the body like the driver's side. The passenger side trailing arm has a bunch washers between the bushing and the trailing arm bracket. This can't be normal.