Vibration under driverside floor

For me car is still at the shop as they didn't get the transfer case bushing ordered on time for their next day shipment so that won't be in until Monday and the (winderful!!) area they are focusing on now is the driveshaft and carrier bearing. We've been going back and forth now for a few days as they are very hesitant to replace the carrier bearing since other cars they work on (Audi specifically keeps being mentioned) do not respond well to bearing replacements and in their words usually end up being out of balance again. He's checking on rebuilts. seeing if they can get specific setup instructions for this one and what other options we have and hopefully might know more on Monday at the OEM one is $850.

There is a place called Driveshaft Specialists in Texas out of, you guessed it, Texas that seems to be around $400 for a shipped to my door OEM spec'ed rebuilt driveshaft. Anyone use them? Any other ideas? What happens if I don't fix the carrier bearing and drive the car as is since they are not 100% sure that's the issue? I'd happily pay the money to get the shaft replaced if I knew that's what it was, I already spent about a grand getting the left control arm and CV joint fixed only to find out that wasn't the total issue. They needed to be done but I'm running out of patience and disposable money right now!!

Originally Posted by Derek325

the front output shaft flange just slides into the t case

No it doesn't. That's probably your problem right there.

Originally Posted by miweber929

For me car is still at the shop as they didn't get the transfer case bushing ordered on time for their next day shipment so that won't be in until Monday and the (winderful!!) area they are focusing on now is the driveshaft and carrier bearing. We've been going back and forth now for a few days as they are very hesitant to replace the carrier bearing since other cars they work on (Audi specifically keeps being mentioned) do not respond well to bearing replacements and in their words usually end up being out of balance again. He's checking on rebuilts. seeing if they can get specific setup instructions for this one and what other options we have and hopefully might know more on Monday at the OEM one is $850.

There is a place called Driveshaft Specialists in Texas out of, you guessed it, Texas that seems to be around $400 for a shipped to my door OEM spec'ed rebuilt driveshaft. Anyone use them? Any other ideas? What happens if I don't fix the carrier bearing and drive the car as is since they are not 100% sure that's the issue? I'd happily pay the money to get the shaft replaced if I knew that's what it was, I already spent about a grand getting the left control arm and CV joint fixed only to find out that wasn't the total issue. They needed to be done but I'm running out of patience and disposable money right now!!

The carrier bearing you mean Center support bracket (CSB)? If they mark the driveshaft properly before removing it they should not get it out of balance on putting it back together.

Many guys on this board have replaced the CSB myself included by marking the driveshaft carefully before separating it to avoid throwing it out of balance. I changed out my CSB but it did help my issue. Plus you can see if your CSB is bad if you remove the exhaust.

Originally Posted by Kubica

No it doesn't. That's probably your problem right there.

Mind explaining this a bit more? What exactly do you mean?

^front output flange should not just slide in/out of the TC. Sounds like the bearing is shot to hell.

Originally Posted by Kubica

^front output flange should not just slide in/out of the TC. Sounds like the bearing is shot to hell.

On my car it does. The output flange is splined on the outside and slides into a splined gear in the t case. Just like how a splined drive shaft would go together. Maybe there are more than one style of transfer case for the car?

Originally Posted by jeepo23

The carrier bearing you mean Center support bracket (CSB)? If they mark the driveshaft properly before removing it they should not get it out of balance on putting it back together.

Many guys on this board have replaced the CSB myself included by marking the driveshaft carefully before separating it to avoid throwing it out of balance. I changed out my CSB but it did help my issue. Plus you can see if your CSB is bad if you remove the exhaust.

I am talking a out the CSB. Going to talk to them again about replacing it.

Mike

Originally Posted by Derek325

On my car it does. The output flange is splined on the outside and slides into a splined gear in the t case. Just like how a splined drive shaft would go together. Maybe there are more than one style of transfer case for the car?

Nope. Your TC is busted.

I am not trying to stir the pot - just want to prove that my transfer case isn't broken. BMW lists the front output flange as a separate part # and in this picture it is quite obvious that it slides out of the case.

Originally Posted by Derek325

I am not trying to stir the pot - just want to prove that my transfer case isn't broken. BMW lists the front output flange as a separate part # and in this picture it is quite obvious that it slides out of the case.

The shaft is splined and does slide in there but there should also be a means of retaining the shaft in the TC housing otherwise it could move around in there and cause quite a bit of damage...

A splined driveshaft stays in place by the fact that it is longer than extension of the front suspension. The suspension doesn't move enough for the splined portion to come out of the transfer case. The driveshaft tolerances are close enough they usually don't have anything holding them in.

All driveshafts have a splined area in them to let the suspension travel. If it didn't you would bust the front of the transfer case or the differential when you hit a pothole.

On most vehicles the splined portion will be somewhere in the shaft itself. They have to be designed to handle compression and extension. On my Jeep I have to run a shaft with 24" of splined shaft to handle the extreme amount of travel of the front suspension. The rear only has 12" of spline. I also have to run limiting straps to keep the shafts together and not bind the CV and U-joints and break. Stock Jeeps come with a driveshaft that is splined into the transfer case. When putting on a lift kit that needs to be changed to external splines.

If you live in a major city there will be a driveshaft shop. They can rebuild and balance shafts. Check your yellow pages or ask an offroad shop. Trucks need them fixed all the time so there is always someone. Look for a driveline shop.

Originally Posted by Derek325

I am not trying to stir the pot - just want to prove that my transfer case isn't broken. BMW lists the front output flange as a separate part # and in this picture it is quite obvious that it slides out of the case.

I'm not sure what your problem is. But I do know what's wrong with your car.

I'm sitting next to an nv124 with 140k miles of abuse. The front output flange doesnt just pop out. I can pick the whole TC up by just the flange. And i just tried leveraging it out with even more force than it takes to pop out an output flange of the rear diff, and it wouldn't budge.

Soooo.....Derek. Derek from good ole Squamish, British Columbia eh? What's quite obvious to me...is that it's the holiday season so I'll be nice.

What part number in the diagram are you calling the flange?

Anecdotal note - I had a similar vibration to what you're explaining. After replacing both front axles, motor mounts, driveshaft, guibo, and CSB - the majority of the vibration was coming from the transfer case mount. Replace that and motor mounts first before you spend a bunch of money, they're cheap and relatively easy (and should be part of ~100-150k maintenance)

Originally Posted by athayer187

Anecdotal note - I had a similar vibration to what you're explaining. After replacing both front axles, motor mounts, driveshaft, guibo, and CSB - the majority of the vibration was coming from the transfer case mount. Replace that and motor first before you spend a bunch of money, they're cheap and relatively easy (and should be part of ~100-150k maintenance)

Replace the motor? Cheap? Seriously? Or do you mean the motor mounts?

Originally Posted by Kubica

I'm not sure what your problem is. But I do know what's wrong with your car.

I'm sitting next to an nv124 with 140k miles of abuse. The front output flange doesnt just pop out. I can pick the whole TC up by just the flange. And i just tried leveraging it out with even more force than it takes to pop out an output flange of the rear diff, and it wouldn't budge.

Soooo.....Derek. Derek from good ole Squamish, British Columbia eh? What's quite obvious to me...is that it's the holiday season so I'll be nice.

So how does one check this front output flange. You have some sort of better directions? Would like to see if maybe I am having this issue.

Originally Posted by miweber929

I am talking a out the CSB. Going to talk to them again about replacing it.

Mike

Whatever happened about your Guibo and CSB? Did you get your issue resolved? What did the shop find was the issue? I think were all waiting for an update..

Originally Posted by SlimE46

Fortunately for ALL of us, i happen to work at a BMW dealership. Im going to try and have a technician look at it today. But they also have been saying that for a while now hence why I'm posting on here instead... Smh. Ill let you guys know what the verdict is asap and maybe we can get this problem solved.

What about your BMW dealer? Did you happen to get it checked over? Update would be wicked

Originally Posted by jeepo23

Replace the motor? Cheap? Seriously? Or do you mean the motor mounts?

Post edited!

Originally Posted by athayer187

Post edited!

Thanks for the clarification, I was wondering about that too!

So, dumb question, is there 1 transfer case mount & then 2 engine mounts?

Originally Posted by wvBimmer3Series

Thanks for the clarification, I was wondering about that too!

So, dumb question, is there 1 transfer case mount & then 2 engine mounts?

Yup.

Think I'll be replacing my transfer case mount.. Mine is in rough shape I noticed that last time when I did my GUIBO & CSB just I didn't have it on hand or time so..

The more I think about it the more I can see this being a issue with my vibration, mine is climate dependent. The bushing being rubber would have great affect on temperature. Also come to think of it it keeps the TC in case.. if the TC moves around so will the driveshafts which then would transfer the vibration throughout the car (front or rear). Am I somewhat correct in assuming all this? lol

Post your results!

TC bushing and CSB are being replaced as I write this. We had a pretty big snow storm last weekend and the shop didn't get fully plowed out until later Monday and are pretty far behind still.

I should be picking the car up tomorrow and should know more then. Sorry, not ignoring this topic, the damn car has been at the shop since last week Tuesday trying to get this figured out.