[E92William]

Hey so I replaced my passenger side front axle, wheel bearing, front control arms and sway bar links this weekend.

The axle is an Autozone one and was a pain in the ass to put in and when it kinda went in it wouldn't come out, you can see the marks on the axle from me hitting it with everything to get it out but nothing.

I was driving and I kind of smell diff fluid idk if it is some residual that was left when I changed the axle or if an axle unseated in the front will allow diff fluid to leak out. Any insight as to if this gap between the diff bracket and the axle is normal? Never buying Autozone junk again, it had a massive clip which is probably what's stuck in there now...

[Priceless1]

Looks seated to me. Those things are a pain to get in and out. Look underneath to see if there is any leaks. But the smell could be residual.

[E92William]

Originally Posted by Priceless1

Looks seated to me. Those things are a pain to get in and out. Look underneath to see if there is any leaks. But the smell could be residual.

Well I haven't smelled again because I've been installing headers but as I took off the exhaust manifold I noticed it popped out...

Now it's a bitch to get back in, weird it popped out it was super solid in there

[E92William]

Autozone clip on top vs axle clip from the stock oem unit. No wonder it popped out

[dylim]

Well, to make you feel better I got the new GKN (OEM ones) from FCP euro, and had the same gap as yours.

I was a bit worried so when a mechanic friend stopped by I asked him to take a look and he said that new c clips never fit the same and as long as you couldn't pull it out by hand it's fine.

[E92William]

Originally Posted by dylim

Well, to make you feel better I got the new GKN (OEM ones) from FCP euro, and had the same gap as yours.

I was a bit worried so when a mechanic friend stopped by I asked him to take a look and he said that new c clips never fit the same and as long as you couldn't pull it out by hand it's fine.

Well what ended up happening was that it vibrated a lot. The axle had something wrong with it, maybe not fully seated in and it had a large gap in between itself and the diff bracket, more that the oem did. It ended up getting so stuck in there the clip lodged itself between the splines of the diff and only came out with a slide hammer at the axle. Hopefully yours stays in nice. The aftermarket clips suck

[dylim]

Originally Posted by E92William

Well what ended up happening was that it vibrated a lot. The axle had something wrong with it, maybe not fully seated in and it had a large gap in between itself and the diff bracket, more that the oem did. It ended up getting so stuck in there the clip lodged itself between the splines of the diff and only came out with a slide hammer at the axle. Hopefully yours stays in nice. The aftermarket clips suck

Mine seems to be ok so far, about 1000 miles later. BTW, my GKN clips looked exactly the same as the OEM ones, different from the autozone ones you showed.

Re the vibration, are you sure it's not the axles themselves? Just for the fun of it I took the old BMW axles apart, cleaned, regreased, and rebooted them, and it looks like the clearances are really tight. It's easy to see how cheap aftermarket ones could be off a bit here and there.

[E92William]

Originally Posted by dylim

Mine seems to be ok so far, about 1000 miles later. BTW, my GKN clips looked exactly the same as the OEM ones, different from the autozone ones you showed.

Re the vibration, are you sure it's not the axles themselves? Just for the fun of it I took the old BMW axles apart, cleaned, regreased, and rebooted them, and it looks like the clearances are really tight. It's easy to see how cheap aftermarket ones could be off a bit here and there.

Most of my highway steering vibration is gone. There's still some but I believe that's due to wheel balance. At least one of those two axles was vibrating. It's pretty much impossible to see if it is unless you strap a camera to the underside of the car and go on the highway. Definitely if I put them back on I'll get a new GKN one

[glocknick]

Originally Posted by dylim

Well, to make you feel better I got the new GKN (OEM ones) from FCP euro, and had the same gap as yours.

I was a bit worried so when a mechanic friend stopped by I asked him to take a look and he said that new c clips never fit the same and as long as you couldn't pull it out by hand it's fine.

I don't think it was fully seated. They can me a pain to remove and install. I use the axle itself to tap the inner joint all the way in.

[eljay]

Sorry, to tack onto this thread, but it seems "axle experts" are here.
How do you guys tighten the axle nut to spec torque?
I know nut can be re-used, but calls for 420Nm/309 lbs-ft! Ouch. My wrench goes to only 150 lbs-ft.
Did you just tighten it as much as possible with a long breaker bar and left it at that?

[relative4]

I use a 3/4" drive torque wrench, but you can just use a breaker bar to get it into the neighborhood. If you weigh 200 lb and stand at the tip of a 24" breaker bar, that's 400 lb-ft.