Rear beam

Lee46

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So with all this time off it’s the ideal time to crack on with changing the beam bushes. Been putting it off for a while but started to crack on this morning all was going well untill.......

Cracked the big 22mm nut one side, went round to the other side and have sheared the b*****d pin that holds bush and nut in place. Obviously this can be removed from the chassis but does anyone know where i can source one?
 

Lee46

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Have found the part number: 33321090951

Don’t suppose any one has one knocking around?
 

t-tony

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t-tony

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I this he’s found the wrong part number Andy, I thought he meant the vertices stud through the beam Bush mate?

Tony.
 

Lee46

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Cheers for the response, this is the part in question. Have found a few on the internet but there all going for silly money.
2A596166-EA78-4E9A-A39F-2EF7CD184F4E.jpeg
 

t-tony

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Thought so, if they’re available can you get one from BMW by post?

Tony.
 

Lee46

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Have took the jump and ordered one online for the healthy sum of £48! Seems very overpriced but am struggling to find a better price. Very annoying that it snapped as the other side was undone fairly easily.

Thanks to @t-tony and @spurs fan in a coupe for your quick responses. Always good to know the support is there.
 

mrscalex

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Not something I've ever removed from a car to be honest.

I think in the circumstances you've done the correct thing. £48 is the going rate at a dealer I'm afraid.
 

t-tony

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I’m very surprised that it snapped before unscrewing from the car body. It mast have had quite severe corrosion I guess.

Tony.
 

Stevo7682

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Next problem will be removing the rest of it
Unfortunately now this will only be achievable once the beam has been removed.
 

Lee46

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I guess on the up side it gives me something to do with all this down time. It’s certainly not ideal but the motivation of having a solid rear end once rebuilt is going to keep me going.

Cheers
 

t-tony

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Got a picture of the bit that broke off Lee, might give a clue on how to get the rest out.

Tony.
 

Mazza

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Good luck with the rear end refurb....just finished doing mine....:)

I would suggest you start spraying all the nuts and bolts with a release agent for a couple of days before you start taking them apart. especially the 4 hex drive ones that hold the beam bush plates on to the chassis. Also make sure the heads of these are cleaned out and the hex drive is well seated, before you start to undo them. ( part number 5 in the exploded view above)

I did with mine and luckily didn’t have any problems.

ALSO just to advise that BMW have made part number 5 obsolete a while back, so new ones of these are no longer available. I replaced all mine with an alternative bolt and have some spares if you need any.
 
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Lee46

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Cheers @Mazza for the heads up on making sure all the bits and pieces have plenty of WD on, sprayed everything last night and it made separating the brake lines fairly easy today.

I’ve separated all the adjoining nut’s and bolt’s and have even managed to get the bolt out of the chassis ready for the ridiculously overpriced replacement to fit in. The whole rear section is now free but still under the car.

Next step is to try and remove it and then get the bushes out but with the rain that is due it may take a while. Luckily on this car the beam bush plates were held in with 10mm nuts so came out alright, i was slightly hoping someone had been there before but apon looking at the bushes they were definitely due to be changed.

The poly bushes that have been sat in the shed for a year should in theory be alot easier to fit than the standard ones but that is a story for another day.

Have been watching @Mazza progress on the rear beam, not sure I’ll get to your standard but it should be alot better than it was!

Cheers for the inspiration pal, hopefully it should be all sorted by the time the sun comes out again.
 

Lee46

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Great progress made today regarding removing the rear beam. I ended up removing both rear arms from the beam and then unbolting the diff which then led to me cursing this dam lockdown as another pair of hand’s would of been more than welcome.

As i’ve managed to get the rear beam out i have taken some time this afternoon to paint all the arms and diff because i basically have nothing else better to do!

The beam has been dropped of at the garage ready for them to press out the bushes in the next couple of days but as I’m still waiting on the big threaded bolt to arrive there really is no rush. Most of the part’s under there look in great shape which is nice to know.
 

Lee46

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With the rear end being disassembled i’d quite like to lower the suspension as it’s the perfect time to get the stance just right. As I renewed all four shocks only a few months ago I’m after a set of springs. I’m running 20mm spacers on the back already. Now i’ve made the mistake of going too low with suspension in the past so would quite like to try and get hold of some ‘sport springs’ with the 15mm drop over standard. Does anyone know where i may find a set of springs as doing a little bit of research has found that most companies will do a 30mm drop but I don’t fancy going that far.

Cheers lads and lasses
 
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