OE Front Axle Shafts

[AWD_E30]

Does anyone have a set of BMW 325ix front half shafts? I am currently trying to find a company that will make new, possibly upgraded, front axle shafts for our cars. The goal would be to have another option to the new BMW shafts and possibly some performance upgrade. I found one company that might be able to do it but they need a set of OE half shafts (not aftermarket). I have an extra set but I'm not positive they are OE. They say Lobro in very faint stamping which makes me think aftermarket.

I'm looking for pictures to confirm if mine are OE or someone near CA that might be willing to lend the axles for inspection by this company.

[D.Martijn]

I have two spare sets in my workshop, I'll take a couple pictures when I'm there

[AWD_E30]

Thanks D. Martijn! I've considered making my own CV joint adapters so I can use off-the-shelf aftermarket parts. I wonder if there would be interest as that as an option as well.

[nando]

There were aftermarket CV shafts? Are you sure? Lobro was an OE manufacturer for BMW - maybe they had more than one company making them at the time.

I have a spare set as well but they're pretty worn. Man, even if it was half the price of new BMW (if they're not NLA - haven't checked in a while) it could be worth it. The set on my car now has 380,000 miles and they're not going to last forever..

[AWD_E30]

I'm not sure if mine are 'aftermarket' to be honest. I figured if they were BMW OE they'd have nice crisp BMW stampings in them even if Lobro was the supplier but maybe I'm wrong on that. I imagine the company only needs the shafts to be OE and in good shape at the splines and bearing surfaces but I can confirm. Do your spare set have BMW stamped on them anywhere? The more data points I have the better I'd feel about saying mine were OE.

[nando]

yeah I don't think any of mine say BMW on them - they were definitely originals to the cars they came from too. I think typically it was just a sticker, which is likely long gone by now.

I can go double check but I'll have to dig them out of the "spider corner" of my garage, lol.

[AWD_E30]

lol Good luck! If you know anyone in California that has OE shafts maybe they could drive to the place and show them. Otherwise I'll ship mine.

[D.Martijn]

I had a look at my front axles and they also don't have a BMW logo stamped on them.
Since I painted these fairly thick, I think I was able to make out the Lobro logo as well as W-Germany stamped in them.

[AWD_E30]

Thanks D.Martijn! If Nando confirms the same thing I'll know that mine are actually OE.

[Big Will]

I can at least say that the E34 525iX axles were made by Löbro (they make them or used to make them for BMW and Volvo and others) and can also confirm that my front axles do not have a BMW stamp on the CV parts. Also trying to find a company that can manufacture the 525iX ones over here. There is a company in France that apparently used to make the parts for them but they've been out of stock for a long time. I believe the E30iX axles are quite similar to the 525iX although not identical.

[nando]

the 525ix axles are similar (hub splines are the same, ABS rings are different), but the CV joints are very different. I know another guy with a 525ix and he's been looking for spare shafts as well. It took me years of searching to find my set (I sold them to the guy who built the 325ix turbo with a DCT transmission). Even harder to find than stuff for the 325ix..

Probably the axle stubs will never wear out though. it's the parts in the CV joints that need rebuilt and there's no more replacement parts. That would be a fantastic problem to solve!

[Big Will]

Just so that I understand, can you tell me which parts you need in terms of rebuilding? Do you mean the ball bearings, and cages etc.?



Ignore the rear CVs (the front stuff is on the right)



I am however having trouble removing the CV parts from the inner joint on each axle. The machined lip seems to make it impossible to get the balls out. Am I missing something?



Sorry not trying to thread-jack here, just trying to understand what people need. I'm trying to find a company in Germany that can manufacture either complete axles or individual joints.

I've had more luck with the short driveshaft between the front diff and transfer case. That's not so hard to manufacture. The trick is specifying exactly how long you want the splines to be.

[AWD_E30]

Hey everyone thanks for the feedback on the axles. I visited a local junkyard that specializes in BMW parts this weekend. The guy had several iX parts and I also confirmed only Lobro on the front axle shafts. I'm going to see about picking up another set of axles from the junkyard and cleaning them up to send to the axle manufacturer for inspection. Or possibly sending my backup set.

Big Will I think what we need is someone to make the long intermediate shaft with the joint integrated for the right side. This is the long part that shoots through the oil pan. I suspect this is the part that kills almost any aftermarket company or specialty manufacturer from making new parts. My current guess is that that whole portion of the shaft (in photo below snipped from your first photo) is forged from one piece then machined/hardened. Perhaps someone has more experience with CV joint design and can chime in. If the tripod joint/cups wears out on this component there isn't much that rebuilders can do about it (red arrow). The good news is that apparently the E30-era joints are quite hardy compared to newer 3-series shafts. See what John from CVJ axles said about rebuilds recently when I asked about rebuilds.

We do not use oversize ball bearings or cages. We stick with the OEM specifications. The joints will wear out, but this can be minimized by rebuilding the axle before it starts chewing up the joints. If a joint is worn out, it usually has to be replaced. We have remanufactured quite a few of these axles for this generation of 325IX, the joints (cups) are usually in pretty good shape. Ball bearings and cages are replaced as part of our remanufacturing process, they take most of the wear. Newer 3 series are a different story, they wear out joints regularly.


Regards,
John
CVJ Axles, Inc.

As for the removal of the bearings from the plunge joint, I think the lighter colored end piece is what is keeping it inside. I think this is pressed on then crimped but this is pure speculation.



Thanks!
Devon

[nando]

That's why I'm saying - wouldn't it be easier to just get new CV joint parts made instead of the whole shaft? I really doubt many of the shafts themselves fail, and reproducing it from scratch is probably insanely expensive. IIRC, it's typically the cages that crack? I haven't opened up one of my bad ones to see, but it sounded awful last time I ran it.

[Big Will]

Hey everyone thanks for the feedback on the axles. I visited a local junkyard that specializes in BMW parts this weekend. The guy had several iX parts and I also confirmed only Lobro on the front axle shafts. I'm going to see about picking up another set of axles from the junkyard and cleaning them up to send to the axle manufacturer for inspection. Or possibly sending my backup set.

Big Will I think what we need is someone to make the long intermediate shaft with the joint integrated for the right side. This is the long part that shoots through the oil pan. I suspect this is the part that kills almost any aftermarket company or specialty manufacturer from making new parts. My current guess is that that whole portion of the shaft (in photo below snipped from your first photo) is forged from one piece then machined/hardened. Perhaps someone has more experience with CV joint design and can chime in. If the tripod joint/cups wears out on this component there isn't much that rebuilders can do about it (red arrow). The good news is that apparently the E30-era joints are quite hardy compared to newer 3-series shafts. See what John from CVJ axles said about rebuilds recently when I asked about rebuilds.




As for the removal of the bearings from the plunge joint, I think the lighter colored end piece is what is keeping it inside. I think this is pressed on then crimped but this is pure speculation.



Thanks!
Devon

I think you are spot on here. I come from the Volvo scene originally and don't remember seeing CV axles that had this additional section that both inner joints have so I'm not sure yet how to deal with it. Perhaps a special tool exists if you're an axle rebuilder that can bend out the edge? But I agree with Nando that the easier solution would be if the individual joints were available.

I did actually find a company in France that supposedly made them. They had part numbers for the inner and outer joints. They haven't made them in a while but I believe they would be willing to do again. The individual joints were priced quite inexpensively. I tried to order one from a shop in Germany but after a few days they told me it wasn't really available but that it may be by July.

http://www.sorea.biz/site_new/index.php?page=cat_trans_eai_neoto

Page 96 has what you're looking for for E30 325ix axles and page 109 for 525ix axles. I'm not sure why they list two different lengths for the long one...I don't believe that's correct.