DIY : Replacing rear differential bushings (mounts) aka notorious rear end clunk

Originally Posted by vegito

Yes right.. but there are many people with manual transmission and this repair kit thus not apply for them. I have also 5 speed gearbox and also the clunck noise. By the way we were aware of this fix for automatic transmissions.

Your tone suggests that everyone on the forum was aware of this; but I could not find this information anywhere in this forum. I found it at bimmerforums. I have also had about 5 PM's pertaining to this post; so obviously many people do not know of this fix! This is in fact only for auto/step transmissions; as stated in my SI post!

i think we're confusing the clunk, which i dont knwo what that is, with the THUMP which i have and is caused by a worn differential bushing, that costs like $35.
Thats what this thread is about, not CLUNKING, it was described wrong.

Originally Posted by snikwad

i think we're confusing the clunk, which i dont knwo what that is, with the THUMP which i have and is caused by a worn differential bushing, that costs like $35.
Thats what this thread is about, not CLUNKING, it was described wrong.

Well, the person who started this thread described it as a Clunk in the title and even though he changed his bushings for $35 as you put it...He still has the clunk!!! And there are at least 2 other people in this thread who have changed them and it is still there!!! So whether it be a clunk or thump, I was just trying to help out others who may need my solution. I'm happy I finally have closure to this issue and I just hope that others will too!

Originally Posted by DBLAZE

Well, the person who started this thread described it as a Clunk in the title and even though he changed his bushings for $35 as you put it...He still has the clunk!!! And there are at least 2 other people in this thread who have changed them and it is still there!!! So whether it be a clunk or thump, I was just trying to help out others who may need my solution. I'm happy I finally have closure to this issue and I just hope that others will too!

oh no doubt, clearly there are 2 problems here. and u found the solution to one, but the THUMP is an easier fix.

Dblaze, I would like to know if you have fixed your clunk, if not when you will, please post it her cos i am having the same problem, i changed the diff bushings, same clunk. I am tired of paying money and not getting results. Many Thanks for your post.....
PS: I Used a chassis ear to locate the source of the clunk noise, while the car was on (P) park, i got beneath it (in a car pit), and moved the car forth and back, the clunk seemed to come from inside the diff

I have the work completed and it was $620 to have it complete. The clunk is gone...good luck man...its probably the same thing...The person at the shop told me that even if I never got it done, it wouldn't have harmed anything else...just an annoying sound after the car is heated up...Good luck!

I would like to know what FoxKazan thinks about DBlaze's Solution, i 'm very convinced about it, and I'm going to have it done ( I'm going to print Dblaze's solution and have it shown to my mechanic), (but not soon, I wanna drive my E46 and enjoy it for some time ,cos as i mentioned, the same happened to me like Fox, all that work (changing the bushing) and the clunk is not gone ...
Just one more thing, Please Dblaze, could you be specific about the parts needed, which numbers in the realoem parts http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...33&hg=24&fg=15
I will keep you informed about the results when I'm done..

Part Number - 24 21 7 515 388
Description - Repair set output flange

did u have to change any seals or gaskets or anything for the axles.
im getting ready to do this, and i dont want any snags, but at the same time i dont want to buy anything i dont need.

I have a 99 323 sedan w steptronic auto transmission. the sound I hear is more of a thump. I went under the car and i could see that the rear rubber mount is the culprit. D you suggest replacing all the other bushings since I'm going to bring down the whole differential? Is it easier to get the bushings in than pulling them out or will I need to hammer them into place. Great DIY. Thanks!

Originally Posted by sooper

I have a 99 323 sedan w steptronic auto transmission. the sound I hear is more of a thump. I went under the car and i could see that the rear rubber mount is the culprit. D you suggest replacing all the other bushings since I'm going to bring down the whole differential? Is it easier to get the bushings in than pulling them out or will I need to hammer them into place. Great DIY. Thanks!

i showed this thread to my mech buddy, he says it has to come out, because u have to press the rear bushing in and u cant do that with the diff in place as it has to be press from the side that the diff is in.
he said if u look at the rear bushig housing you can see its slightly tapered.
im personally going to replace both front bushings and the rear, since my rear has been shot im assuming the front ones are worn.
and after seeing the thread, he also suggest i order a new bolt, washer and the flange also.

Yeah, might as well replace them all since it's so hard to pull them all down. Thanks snikwad

I have all three bushings ready. I'm gonna order the flange, washer and bolt next.

I'm gonna do it when I get my taxes back, cause I want to do my clutch and control arms.

Back to the OP, did u have to mess with any axle gaskets, or seals or anything?

diy with good pics ftw

im in the middle of doing this, it took us maybe an hour to get everything out, but the bushing housing itself, took us about 4 maybe 5 hrs.
now, after we got it out, we're stil having trouble getting the new one in, so, we took a abreak, till tomorrow, only to have a flat tire on the way home and had to call a tow truck.

tomorrow we're gonan go rent a different bushing press tool, because the one we have now isnt cutting it.
bushing if on ice, and the torch will be out again, heating the carrier. wish me luck.

lesson learned: sometimes its better and easier ot just pay professionals to do it, because right now, my car is sitting outside with the differential out, waiting on one single stubborn fukin bushing

First of all, I would like to say sorry to everyone for not responding promptly. For some reason, E46f forum stopped sending me new reply notifications about the DIY thread.

To DBLAZE: The solution you have found applies only to automatic transmissions, and as far as I know, this problem is a lot more common on manual transmissions (I think because of the increased chances of "torque-abuse" when people drop the clutch and generally torture the clutch-transmission-differential assembly). It is interesting though and I will try to look for similar problem when weather gets warmer in my area (I don't have a garage, so I have to work on my car outside). For all I know, there could be the same problem with output flange on manual transmissions of that year (my car was produced at the same time as yours). Also, I would appreciate if you look up anything in TIS about clunk/thump for manuals as well.

About clunk/thump: I don't think it matters how you name it. In my car it is a loud thump, but when I first bought the car it was a muffled clunk. Now it is stressing the car so much that you can feel it through your seat. I can feel it when I am engaging/disengaging the clutch and putting in gears(just the very moment when synchros engage).

To Snikwad: It is not better to "use professionals", because local shops would never do it better than you. Why? I have friends in multiple shops in my area, they fix european imports and all kinds of expensive automobiles. I went around to ask their opinions on bushing removal, and I was shocked to hear their answers!!! None of them have the tool, and they all have similar ways to get them out - use a torch to burn rubber down, use sheet-metal-cutting airtool to destroy outer casing and knock the thing out with bruteforce. After that just pound the new one in as good as you can (yes, damaging it with excessive force).

To Snikwad about bushing installation: This is the part where you have to be careful and precise. If it starts going in on an angle, you will bend it and ruin it, and worst of all it could get stuck there really bad. The trick is to take a little hammer and go around the casing, just slightly tapping on it in even circles. Slowly, but surely it will start to slide in (might take you hours though).

And yes, I hear you all about the time spent doing this job. As I said before, I didn't have a car for two weeks. It was inconvenient and stressful as I couldn't find a way to get the bushing out (the whole rear end being apart and car sitting on jack stands).

About replacing all bushings: Yes, I think it is a very good idea to replace as much as you can, since you already doing a hell of a job removing the differential, etc. Two front bushings are only about $20 each.

To everyone: I have no idea how to fix the damn problem. I hate my car now and I am losing all patience and love for BMWs. Please keep me posted if you will have any progress on eliminating this clunk/thump sound.

In the meanwhile: I am waiting for the warm weather and next on my agenda is replacement of: guibo flex disk, transmission mounts, rear trailing arm bushings, rear shock mounts. I have no idea why I should replace RTABs and RSMs, but I am so desperate now that I will try to replace them just to see if there is any result (if you think it wouldn't do anything, please let me know).

I will post more DIYs when I get that done.

P.S. And BMW mechanics are lame. They still have no clue on how to address this problem. "Ummm... let's try to replace that.... oh, well, you might have to replace this.... oh, well, you know the car is old and you never know..."
Damn idiots. They wanna go replacing every single part, charging me somewhere between $300-$800 every time, not even sure if it will have any result.

Man, we got that rear differential bushing in finally.
It is by far, my worst diy experience EVER.
I would never do it again, would never recomend anyone doing it.
We had to buy a propane torch to heat the carrier, then dig and punch out the bushing. Then after digging, well, chiseling the bushing casing out for about 6hrs, we couldn't get the bushing puller to pull the bushing in straight. So we started 1st wrnch turn at around 2pm sat. We stopped at like 1230.
On the way home, my boys truck had a flat, 1.5 hrs later, at about 2am, the tow truck left us at my place. We crashed untill around 9am. Then we took his tire to go get patched, oh, he didn't have a spare. Then we fixed that, grabbed the bushing out of the frezzer and headed off. We bought a 9" threaded rod, a bunch of washers, and a huge ball press tool thingy for fords at autozone, and gettho rigged it using a pliers some washers and a wrench. To finally give us a solid base to turn the rod from and drive thebushing in.
The rod later snapped when the bushing was all the way in.
Before all that the bushing still wasn't moving straight, we had the bushing on ice, and said fukit, and greased the bushing and the carrier.
I think the halfshaft that I put on, I didn't line it back up with the marks, for where it was attached to the diff before. Atleast I didn't see any. My biy said they were there, but I didn't see a thing, now there is a vibration on the side I did. Its so bad that when I roll the windows down at hwy speeds, the car sound like a chopper. Seriously.
So maybe later on, we'll go back under there. We're in no rush tho, as this weekend was just too much.
But, the car no longer thumps when the clutch is let out at move off or during shifts. So I no longer fear the diff faling out will driving down the road. I'll probably address the vibration next week. , just maybe, I dunno.

It seem no one has even mentioned the dreadful SUBFRAME PROBLEM. Everyone that posted seems to have a pre 2000 production car. It seems like that could be a problem. the front subframe mounts is kind of hard to see, but it can be seen. I just had the subframe mounts reinforced with TMS reinforment kit and the rear bushing mount replace. The subframe was ripped pretty badly, the rear bushings was cracked inside the rubber, didn't replace front bushings because it looked like it was in good condition. After all this, i still have the thump. and its even worse. but at less it's not a cluck anymore. You can tell the difference from clunk to thump. I'm going to have the shop tighted everything tomarrow morning just to make sure. he said he only tighten it manually. hope it will be fixed, i'll let you guys know right away.

btw, thanks to the OP, showed your pics to the mech for basic guidence. he took that bushing out in 5 minutes.

my subframe is fine, while being under my car for 2 days basically, i inspected, poked, probed, shook, pulled and felt around every subframe mount.

the only thing i didnt do is xray the damn thing. min is good to go, and mine no longer thumps.

a page back another member mentioned another source of the noise.