iX steering coupling

[bmw444]

Hi
I have a bit of slack in my '88 iX steering coupling and am looking to change it. Can anyone tell me if this can be done without removing the steering column. ie. is there enough spline to push the uj back onto the column to clear the rack and then slide it back free ( and vice versa for fitting the new one). Or does anyone have a link to a DIY. I did a search in vain on all the forums I could find on here and E30tech.
Thanks
Chris

[EyExR]

I would imagine it's possible but the coupling can be very tight. Mine was impossible to slide off the splines by hand. I had to carefully tap it off with a hammer. And tap the new one on. Removing the steering rack entirely makes it a lot easier to work with.

Remove (not loosen) the bolts from the coupling and pry it open a little using a flat head screwdriver. It will come off easier this way. Maybe applying heat will help even more...

[nando]

make sure you remove the bolts entirely from the coupling. just loosening them is often not enough.

you should be able to do it by pushing the steering shaft into the car, you'll also have to loosen the steering coupling nut.

[bmw444]

Thanks everyone for the advice. It went really easily in the end. I had the car on a hoist so it was easy to spray some wd40 on the joins and let it soak in for a bit. Then the bolts came out easily and after prying the joins apart they only needed a light tap with the percussion tool to slide back up the shaft and come loose and then slide off completely. Fitting the new one was easy as well - just the reverse procedure, whole job took less than 30 mins and the knocking noise over bumps is gone.