Re: Drivetrain woes!Comments (archive)

I have a higher milage car, going on 200,000miles, and, well, the age can be felt on the drivetrain(ZF3HP22). so here's the questions:
1) How hard is it to drop the propshaft and fit a new center bearing and front rubber 'doughnut' coupling?
2)Changing out the tranny filter and fluid?
3)Replace the tranny as well as differential mounts?
4)And lastly, changing out the rear oil seal, ans well as diff seals?
Thanks all, I really need help.
SpencerM
'81 728i
'83 733i/A

Just did some of this work on my '86 735 last summer and here is my .02.
1) Center bearing and guibo coupling are straightforward replacements. Check out a shop manual for preloading center bearing during install, front to back.
2) Just did tranny service last week and it's a piece of cake. Remind the source you buy the tranny filter from to give you the new o-ring that seals the filter internally.
3) Tranny and diff mounta are just R&R items. Unbolt and replace.
4) Diff seals on the output flanges are fairly easy to replace. Just drop the rear 1/2 shafts and remove the flange covers and replace the seal. These are the usual ones to leak. I have yet to replace the input shaft seal, but I would assume it would entail dropping the diff out of the car, not that this would be difficult as you would have the driveshaft and 1/2 shafts already disconnected, assuming you do all this work at once.
Never did a rear tranny seal, so I can't comment on this item.

Hope this helps.
All these items can easily be done on a Saturday with the car up on jackstands.
Good Luck,

Tom M in PA

Follow Ups:

[ Follow Ups ] [ 7-series (E23) Message Board ] [ Msg. Board FAQ ]

Questions, comments, or problems, please visit the Roadfly help desk.