Rear Suspension Overhaul Part V: e36 m3 Halfshaft/axle CV Boot Rebuild.

Rebuilding the half shafts on the rear of my e36 M3 proved slightly more difficult than I estimated it to be. I took a look at Calvin's pictures one more time and thought doesn't look that hard. There are a few areas that you should know and might already know about if you read any posts about rebuilding these things. I did not read. I just looked at pictures.

Problem #1: OEM GKN Loebro CV Boot Kit - CLAMPS WRONG SIZE

You probably have these boxes sitting around waiting one day to rebuild your axles. Guess what the clamps will not fit and are not the right size. Maybe some do, maybe some don't but multiple people online have had the same problem. OE BMW might be the right size but OEM GKN Loebro is the wrong size. Don't try for 3 hours super confused trying to force them on over the boots or take them to a shop where the guy just looks at you and says, "these are the wrong size, use an adjustable clamp, we don't even carry this style anymore." They are just the wrong size. You need (2) "large" adjustable clamps and (2) "small" adjustable clamps. Just trust me. Go ahead and get all the way there, find out the clamps are too small, stop right there, go get the adjustable ones. They don't even sell the clamping kind anymore. I looked for them.

Problem #2: Tools

You'll need at least two tools to do this correctly. One crimper to clamp down the OEM style clamp that actually fit and one tool to turn the adjustable clamps. The adjustable clamp is supposed to be superior and holds tighter. Don't spend 2 hours with make shift tools. Just buy something off Amazon.

OTC is a fine brand. This one worked for me.

It's pretty simple to use. I watched this video for instance.

I bought the old style CV crimper off ebay. It was something like this.

Problem #3: Paying attention to how parts go back together. Take pictures.

Just in case you have all your balls, cage and inner race laying on a table and can't remember how it's supposed to go back together here is a correct picture.

And an INCORRECT PICTURE. DON'T PUT IT BACK TOGETHER LIKE THIS. For whatever reason the inner race fit in the cage with the balls but did not move at all. I thought something was wrong, went back to some pictures I took and realized I was super wrong. If I would have left it like this and bolt it back up, bad things would happen.

If I would've had all that information then I would've been good to go and could rebuild these things like a pro in a matter of a few hours.

Obviously use the bentley for the specifics but basically once the axles are removed from the diff you can removed the dust shield with a screw driver and a hammer.


























The outer CV joint does not come apart. You can remove the inner CV joint housing from the axle with a big hammer and a solid surface or a press.

I cleaned all the parts with kerosene. You could use gasoline or any super flammable liquid. Just a matter of price really. And disposal.

Since the outer portion cannot be disassembled, let it soak in your thinner of choice until most of the grease has dissolved. Then pack it with new grease. That's the best you can do.

This is the correct orientation of the inner race and outer housing as shown above. The axle is being held in a vise as I use the CV clamp tool to twist up the adjustable clamps. Obviously pack this bitch with grease before throwing on the dust cap. Use loctite on the splines when you press it back together. Put the snap ring back into place. 96-99 models have a small ring that holds this all together. 95 m3 axles are slightly splined to hold the housing up.

Here are the two axles finally built up after halting and having to go get proper tools etc. Yippie next time won't be such a PITA.

Rear Suspension Overhaul Part IV: Suspension Powder Coated and Bushings Pressed.

With everything welded up the next step was to drop off the rear suspension at the powdercoater. I used a connection through work, and I didn't really care for the experience so I'm not going to plug them. I don't have a ton of pictures of me sandblasting the suspension pieces mainly because I was in a hurry and we're not supposed to use our camera at work. Here you can see Steve working on the blasted subframe. It took about 2-4 hours to blast everything clean.

Alright so I have to post this because I don't think there has ever been a poop brown subframe. Yeah that's the color this thing came out. Instead of just going BLACK like everyone who reccomended this place said to do and only do, I thought I would get fancy and do DARK GRAY. I'm not going to say it was their fault but this is not "DARK GRAY." The little tiny swatch did look a little warm...

Needless to say I was pretty disappointed with this color. After getting over the fact I just spent 4 hours sandblasting this thing and the money to powder coat it poop brown, I put it back in the sandblaster, brought it back told them to do "SEMI-GLOSS BLACK."

Whew! Almost thought I was going to have to rock an entire brown rear suspension! But there are some things no matter how much time or money you spend on them, if they're not right, they're not right and you do it over. So if you've come to this page with search terms like "Brown subframe, what to do next?!," do it over. Or don't do it over and be UNIQUE. (and never sell your car again)

Let's get pressing. First up Bimmerworld solid aluminum subframe mounts. TMS solid aluminum differential mounts with delrin front mount. I don't have a TON of pictures of everything but there are quite a few examples online. Calvin "99Mpower," has a lot of good documentation. Here's a thread.

It seems solid on the subframe and diff is not as harsh as solid on the motor and trans. I have switched out the motor and trans mounts for something more soft since it was ridiculous. I'll get to that post later.

The subframe bushings are different sizes. Obviously if the bushing just slides in it is too small and goes in the other hole.

Subframe all pressed, reinforced, ready to go. Check.

Now for the diff. I picked up a 3.38 LSD from a 99 M3 with 92k on it. To press the bushing you remove the rear cover. When replacing the cover I used a paper gasket. I called around a couple different shops and they said they use RTV when the gasket isn't available. But the paper gasket WILL work fine. NOT both together. One or the other.

I used 1.8L of Royal Purple Max-Gear 75W-140. I haven't really been too impressed with the RP Syncrhomax that is in my tranny so I'm swapping that out for Redline D4 ATF. I will probably swap this stuff out too, but it's what I had right now. It SHOULD be fine. It meets the requirements for the diff fluid.

Next up control arms and trailing arms.

I went with Lemfoerder OE stock ball joints for the rear trailing arms. 33326775551 The 95 M3 has a solid mounted bushings in the lower trailing arm mount so using all ball joints is an upgrade.

I went with stock OE Lemfoerder bushings for the upper control arm. 33321092247  The lower control arm will be replaced with TMS camber arms so no bushings there. If I were made of money I would've matched the inner lower TMS spherical joint with their solid upper mounts. But I had no more budget for such mounts.

For the RTAB bushing I went with the e46 M3 Meyle HD Split version with limiters. I deliberately chose this mount. I decided to take the advice of most people and stay away from poly in this area since it's a dual articulating mount. The verdict was you could either run spherical or stock with limiters. The beefiest stock option was the e46 M3 Meyle HD version. I can't remember where the shims were from but they're all the same, Vorshlag, Ground Control, Rogue etc.

The part number is 33326770817. They're also found in the Z4 M Coupe. There are two part numbers. One is more split than the other but they're, for the most part, the same thing.

And OEM FAG Wheel bearings with new snap rings and collar nuts. 33411090505 33411133785 07119934755

I used a ton of anti-seize on the bearing to press it in there. The orange seal of the bearing goes OUTWARDS.

The RTAB was a bit tricky with it's split design. I used a c-clamp to help compress it and I pressed it through. The "splits" align vertically when the arm is installed so pointed towards the circular hole.

Final step after all the bushings are pressed in, put the dust plate back on and press the hub into the wheel bearing.

So there you have it. Next up is a special section just on axles (because they were a pain in the ass).

Rear Suspension Overhaul Part III: Welding Rear Trailing Arm (RTAB) e36, and Sway Bar Reinforcements

So this is what it all comes down to. Welding the reinforcement for the rear trailing arm pockets. You can buy these from bimmerworld or AKG. There is a member on bimmerforums "pottsalot" who also sells them. I also reinforced the sway bar mounting tabs.

Now figuring out how I was going to do this was the hard part. I have welding experience but I don't own a welder. I also only have 110v in my garage.  I called around to a couple different shops to get quotes on a 110v MIG rental. They ranged from about $195-$220. And that didn't include the gas, renting the tank, the deposit etc. and a truck to pick it up and drop it off. Also if I wasn't able to finish it in a day or the time I had allotted, I would have to rent it again for another period of time.

Dropping it off a shop to disassemble the rear suspension, weld this up and put it back together so I could drive off was out of the question. Once the suspension was down I couldn't exactly take my car to a shop or "my buddies place." I had already started on the overhaul; I figured this method would be about $800 + in labor. Imagine over 8 hours. There's lot of prep to do to too.

The last idea was just investing $750+ or so in my own setup to have around to weld shit up. This sounded the most enticing just so I could have a welder. But it would be a MIG and only 110v. The items I could actually weld and that I really cared to weld would be limited. I decided now is not the time to dump money into another hobby I have no time for. I used my resources to find a friend of a good friend, Steve, who had a 110v MIG who liked wrenching on cars. Perfect.

Not that there is a whole lot to understand but I used this video for reference.

To save time before Steve showed up I did most of the prep work. I bought a bunch of paint removal harsh sanding tools from harbor freight. They did the job.

There is a bunch of nasty undercoating in here and you need to get it ALL off. In the video you can see they go through a lot of trail and error busting this stuff off.

Pretty much prepped and ready to go. Next step we put the reinforcement up. Held it in place with the RTAB bolt and a washer. There was a lot of cutting and grinding to get it right. They don't just fit right out of the box.

Tack that bad boy in place.

And get to work.

And there's your boggery goodness. Although it looks terrible these are not going anywhere. One of the issues with using too much filler around the rosette welds and mounting points was that we spent all day grinding it flat. Last thing you want is for your alignment to be all wacky because of an uneven surface.

Steve started grinding on the first side, but then I quickly became the grind monkey as he tackled the other side.

Keep checking it with the RTAB pocket plate until it's flat and good enough and then hit it was some self-etching primer and a coat of paint. 

Both sides were much of the same thing. I lost track of taking pictures. It's the same thing twice. I forgot the final picture of it painted but here it is with the suspension installed. Mmmm glossy.

(pic)

The last thing left to do was the sway bar reinforcements. After spending much of our day cursing on our backs the sway bar reinforcement seemed actually fun! I took a shot at this one.

And the end of a long 8 hour day the garage was getting smaller and smaller.

Where does all this stuff live?

Kill me. I wouldn't say this project was a nightmare, I have some sort of sick delight in doing this kind of stuff, but shit, looking at these pictures (it's been a year) reminds me of being in it deep. Finishing this step was a major hurdle. Next came pressing in bushings, which was almost as nerve racking, in it's own sorta way.