How to Replace Front Drivers CV Axle 2001-05 BMW 325 Xi

What's up, guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you how to replace the driver side front axle on this 2001 BMW 325xi. If you need this part or other parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description, head over to 1AAuto.com.

All right, I want to loosen up these lug bolts. I'm going to use a 17 millimeter socket and a breaker bar. Loosen them up. Now I'm going to raise and support the vehicle. We're using a two-post lift. If you're doing this at your house, you can use a jack and jack stands. Now we'll take these lug bolts out. Just use the socket to help you get them out. I'm going to just hold the wheel with my other hand so it doesn't fall. Take the last one out. Then I can grab the wheel and slide it off.

I want to remove this axle nut. I'm going to take a little punch. It is peened over a little bit right there and right there. That's just to prevent it from loosening up. Just take a punch and a hammer. Just try to punch it back a little bit. Once you get that all set, you're going to take a 36 millimeter 12-point socket. We actually sell these at 1AAuto.com.

Slide that on and then use an air gun. Take this nut off. Just like that--comes right off. I'm going to use a little rust penetrant in there. Let that sit for a little bit. Then I'm going to take a punch to just try to get this to break free a little bit and hit it with a hammer. I don't want to slam it out completely, but you want to be careful when you're hitting it like this, because you could mushroom the end over and then you won't be able to get the nut back on there if you're reusing the axle. We're not going to be reusing the axle, so it's not as crucial for us. I see a little movement, so that's good for right now.

Now I'm going to take an 18 millimeter wrench, and I'm going to take this nut off the ball joint right there. Loosen it up. And take the nut off. Having trouble getting the nut off a little bit, so I'm just going to spray it with some rust penetrant. Let that soak. It's a little bit of a pain, but I got that loose and sometimes you can't get the nut off, but I was able to get the nut off. There it goes.

Now there's a couple of different tools you can use to release this ball joint. You can use a pickle fork or there's some others that you can get in there and push down on the ball joint. What we're going to use is a pickle fork--you just got to be careful of damaging the boot. I'm going to replace this control arm anyway, so it's not a big deal for us. But keep that in mind if you're going to re-use your ball joint. If I wanted to avoid breaking that lower ball joint boot, I could try to tap on it right here. But it's just best to use a pickle fork and a hammer.

There it is. And it did rip the boot. But that's okay. I'm just going to support the brakes and the knuckle and just give this a tap. Just grab a pry bar. Try to pry this and it's not going. There we go. Slide that out of the way. I need to get the axle out from where it attaches to the front differential. Just move that like that and then take a long punch and a hammer. Give it a tap. Be careful not to hit the differential. There it goes. Got it to break free. Make sure you put a drain bucket underneath because some of the fluid may come out. Pry it up. There we go. Pull it right up. Just like that.

You want to check the seal. It's a good idea to replace the seal. I'm not going to replace the seal in this case, but it's actually pretty good. There's no rips in it or anything. Just make sure it feels good so that's good, but it is always a good idea when you're placing an axle to replace the seal.

Here's the old part. Here's the new front driver's side axle from 1AAuto.com. Comes with a new nut. The shape is the same and the length is the same. The boots are the same. Get yours at 1AAuto.com and you can do it yourself.

Before I slip this in, I am going to put a little bit of grease on the end of this. You want to be careful if you have a limited slip differential. You really don't want to be adding any grease because it might not mix with the gear loop properly. But a little bit of grease on this one. Make it go in a little bit easier. I'm going to slide this in like this. Try not to hit the edge of the seal. Looks pretty good. Let's get that lined up over there. Should be able to click it in place. When it clicks in place, you might not hear the click, but just double check to make sure it won't pull out. Take a look at it and make sure it's all the way on. Looks like it's all the way down. That looks good.

There we go. Slide that in position and get the ball joint lined up. Take the nut. Get that started. I'll tighten this nut up. Because I replaced the control arm, this new nut is a 19 millimeter. The nut you have might be different. And if you have a castle nut, you're going to want to put a new cotter pin in there. And tighten this down snug. Now the torque on this is 48 foot-pounds, but I don't have any way to use a torque wrench on this, so I'm just going to do the best I can.

Now I'm going to put the axle nut on. This comes with a new axle nut, so we'll use the new one and I'm going to take two lug nuts: one here and one right here. Now with a 36 millimeter socket and a torque wrench, I'm going to torque this axle nut to 214 foot-pounds. And what I'm going to do, to hold this from spinning, you could try to have someone step on the brake for you and see if that works for you. Sometimes it's not so easy, and then take a pry bar. Position it like this, that will hang up like that. Torque this to 214. That's not the easiest thing to do. You can always position this close to the ground and have the pry bar pushing on the ground while you torque it. That's a little bit easier.

To prevent this from loosening up, just take a little chisel and a hammer and just peen the end over, right in this area near the axle. Just like that. Same for this side. Here we go. Now it's not going to loosen up. You're good to put the tire on. Now I'm going to install the wheel. Line it up with the lug holes. I'll hold the wheel on. Grab a socket with my lug bolt. Get that started. Now I can lower the vehicle and torque the lug nuts.

Now I'm going to use a 17 millimeter socket and this torque wrench that we sell at 1AAuto.com. I'm going to torque these lug bolts to 95 foot-pounds in a star pattern so that it torques the wheel down evenly. We'll just go around again.

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