[335xiE90]

Need some opinions! I finished up my oil pan on my 140k mile north east rust bucket and I only have one issue. My steering wheel is off about 60 degrees. I had the steering wheel locked so I must have moved the damn steering rack when pulling the subframe. I'm looking for the best option to fix it. My first thought is I need to pull that steering shaft off the rack again and reseat it. My only issue is getting it lined up right. It's a huge PITA taking that thing off and on.

[Dwifter]

Probably just needs an alignment. When you remove the control arms and the steering rack, they don't go 100% back to exactly where they are. There's a trick you can do to get it closer. Loosen the steering rack bolts and physically move the rack the very little it will move. I've seen it get closer and do nothing at all. Sometimes messing with the anti-roll bar will do the same. This won't fix your alignment, but it can make it feel a little better. Any time the suspension is messed with, a good rule of thumb is to get an alignment after. If the steering rack moved at all, you might be able to unbolt the steering shaft and straighten out the wheel and rack. When lining up the steering shaft and rack, did you have to rotate either? If you over rotate the clockspring, you'll damage it. Hopefully something here helps.

Also, if you unbolt the rack and slide it out a little, it might give you a little more play so it isn't so hard to remove the rack from the steering shaft.

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by Dwifter

Probably just needs an alignment. When you remove the control arms and the steering rack, they don't go 100% back to exactly where they are.

There's no way to mess up the alignment by removing the steering rack or sway bar. They only go in one way and there's virtually no deviation, nothing that would affect alignment at least. You could remove control arms and reattach them and that wouldnt noticeably affect alignment either. Only thing that changes alignment is the tie rod adjustment, or if you upgrade control arms (m3 wishbones are longer, requiring toe adjustment by changing the tie rod position.)

Originally Posted by 335xiE90

My first thought is I need to pull that steering shaft off the rack again and reseat it.

What do you mean again? If you removed the steering shaft from the rack that's likely the issue, it wasn't aligned. I haven't ever done the job, is there an index mark or some other way to ensure the shaft is attached to the rack at a specific position?

[3PedalJake]

Agree with lowrydr310 you can't mess up alignment by removing the rack, it's a pretty tight tolerance, it goes back in exactly the same place every time.

Yes there are locators, the upper steering shaft u-joint has a key groove and the lower u-joint indexes on the black plastic disk with the centering pointer on it. The little locating tab gets broken off fairly easily.

[Leucosticte]

Originally Posted by lowrydr310

You could remove control arms and reattach them and that wouldnt noticeably affect alignment either. Only thing that changes alignment is the tie rod adjustment, or if you upgrade control arms (m3 wishbones are longer, requiring toe adjustment by changing the tie rod position.)



What do you mean again? If you removed the steering shaft from the rack that's likely the issue, it wasn't aligned. I haven't ever done the job, is there an index mark or some other way to ensure the shaft is attached to the rack at a specific position?

Since this is an xDrive car, there is a ball joint on the subframe side that is part of what BMW calls the "wishbone." That will affect alignment if you remove it, I did my oil pan gasket earlier this year and it was definitely noticeably different afterwards.

The reason for this is that if you look at the design, the ball joint can be in multiple different positions when you install it, thus yielding slight changes in alignment.

This thread discusses it: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1792419

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by Leucosticte

Since this is an xDrive car, there is a ball joint on the subframe side that is part of what BMW calls the "wishbone." That will affect alignment if you remove it, I did my oil pan gasket earlier this year and it was definitely noticeably different afterwards.

The reason for this is that if you look at the design, the ball joint can be in multiple different positions when you install it, thus yielding slight changes in alignment.

This thread discusses it: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1792419

I'm not familiar with the xdrive suspension.

Is that the right link? That thread confirms exactly what I said above, that alignment isn't needed after replacing the control arms, for the RWD models at least.

There is a post lower down that says it's recommended when replacing wishbones. There is some very slight variation where the wishbones mount to the subframe (on the RWD models, again I am not familiar with xdrive) where the bolt holes are slightly larger than the bolt so I can see why you'd want an alignment to get it perfect afterward. But the steering rack can absolutely be removed and reinstalled without affecting alignment.

[Leucosticte]

Originally Posted by lowrydr310

I'm not familiar with the xdrive suspension.

Is that the right link? That thread confirms exactly what I said above, that alignment isn't needed after replacing any of the control arms, for the RWD models at least.

It says that it's needed for item 10 in the front (wishbone), which I assumed he disconnected.

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by Leucosticte

It says that it's needed for item 10 in the front (wishbone), which I assumed he disconnected.

Yeah. I corrected my post above yours as I just caught that.

Even with that wishbone disconnected, I can't see the alignment being much farther off than the tolerance/calibration of most alignment racks.

[Leucosticte]

Originally Posted by lowrydr310

Yeah. I corrected my post above yours as I just caught that.

Even with that wishbone disconnected, I can't see the alignment being much farther off than the tolerance/calibration of most alignment racks.

Yeah it surprised me too, but I definitely needed one after I did my subframe job.

I disconnected the steering rack from the subframe and didn't touch the tie rods but that didn't seem to matter as my steering felt off and an alignment fixed it. But to be fair I'm probably way more sensitive than 99% of people when it comes to this because I'm a perfectionist.

[335xiE90]

Originally Posted by 3PedalJake

Agree with lowrydr310 you can't mess up alignment by removing the rack, it's a pretty tight tolerance, it goes back in exactly the same place every time.

Yes there are locators, the upper steering shaft u-joint has a key groove and the lower u-joint indexes on the black plastic disk with the centering pointer on it. The little locating tab gets broken off fairly easily.

This is EXACTLY what I needed to see and then cry about. My car was an absolute mess with short cuts taken by the PO. This plastic cap was in pieces when I went to pull the steering shaft out. Am I screwed without that plastic piece?!!?!??!

[335xiE90]

Originally Posted by Leucosticte

Since this is an xDrive car, there is a ball joint on the subframe side that is part of what BMW calls the "wishbone." That will affect alignment if you remove it, I did my oil pan gasket earlier this year and it was definitely noticeably different afterwards.

The reason for this is that if you look at the design, the ball joint can be in multiple different positions when you install it, thus yielding slight changes in alignment.

This thread discusses it: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1792419

Thank you! I replaced the ball joint that was in the steering knuckle and the control arms as well. This car was def showing signs of being a northeast car it's whole damn life.