Will a late 318i CV axle work on an early 318i?

[irish44j]

They're both small-case diffs I believe, but I think I remember seeing something about them having different size output flanges, but could be wrong.

Anyone know?

Part numbers are different, but I'm not sure if that's because of the ABS ring on the newer ones not present on the early ones.

axle in question is off a '91 318i. My car is an '85. BUT I have 325i rear T/A's and hubs (from an ABS car).

Thanks.

[irish44j]

Bueller....Bueller?

[///digitalme]

abs on non abs wont work from what i was told ....but its around 45 here in the OC to rebuild non abs axles

[Holland]

Definitely not. 84, 85 axles are the small axles and later axles WILL NOT fit due to the trailing arm being an earlier style. I bought some larger refurbed axles and was quite disappointed.

[irish44j]

Definitely not. 84, 85 axles are the small axles and later axles WILL NOT fit due to the trailing arm being an earlier style. I bought some larger refurbed axles and was quite disappointed.

I'm using 325i trailing arms/brakes and my one good 84-85 axle works fine with it.

Are you sure you didn't buy refurbed axles from a medium-case diff car? Those won't fit because of the diff width. Not sure how the trailing arm affects anything, since the splined section is the same size.

[Holland]

Nope, there is no width difference between a small and medium diff. Yes I did buy the larger axles as that was my intent. Splines ARE the same but, and I do stress this, the housing in the trailing arm is different. So the large end on the larger axles (the big end where the ABS ring goes) is a larger diameter and a completely different shape. Basically The late axles are too large and not rounded off like the early axles so when you tighten it down it presses inside the trailing arm housing itself. This is when I found out those trailing arms I got for that disc brake conversion were off an 85 as well. FFFFUUUUUUU!

[Holland]

Here is my example, and removing the ABS ring does not help, it's a square peg in a round hole kind of deal. This is a late axle.

[irish44j]

Actually looking back I don't think I phrased my original question right:

My diff is the original small-case 318i

My trailing arms and rear hubs are from a later 325 (they have the red clips that hold ABS lines, so they were off an ABS-equipped car). So the 325 and/or late 318 axle outer end should fit fine, obviously.

My question was whether the INNER end was the correct bolt pattern to attach to the output flanges on the small diff? Or would I need new output flanges?

I was thinking the axles were different lengths, but if the early and late 318 axles are both the same length and have the same inner flange bolt pattern, and the late 318i has the ABS ring to fit the 325 hubs, I should be good....

[irish44j]

Here, I took a pic of the back of my hub - I can clealy see the hole where an ABS sensor would go, and the bore is definitely more squared than my 318i stock hubs (which were drums, of course).

So since the late 318s also had the small-case diff, but had ABS hubs on the outer, that should mean that with my current setup (small diff, 325 hubs), a late 318i axle should be a direct fit, correct?

[TobyB]

Well, then, they should work, according to what Holland posted.

And yup, the small cases have stick- out flanges, so they're the same flange- to- flange
as a mid- case.

t

[irish44j]

cool, that's good news. thanks.