How To Guide - E36 Steering Rack Swap

[jalopi]

How big is your hammer? Twas a mechanic for five years, never ran into a tie rod I couldn't knock out with my three pound hammer... though all the cars were up in the air. I have had to do side jobs at the house and the same hammer worked fine. The problem is most people don't hit it hard enough - trust me, you're not gonna break the steel knuckle.

On a side note, in the future, thread the nut back onto the tie rod / anything you're gonna slam before you do so. Might fuck the nut up a little, but it's a lot better than repairing threads.

[FLG]

Yep!

Actually changed the tie rods on my e36 yesterday, pick fork and little hammer worked fine. Don't be afraid to smack the crap out if it.

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[cgk_iii]

Great info !!! Z3 rack is on and it feels amazing.. Thx alot!!!
Now I have to figure it out from where&why my tranny is leaking right after I swapped the rack in.

Did you use the spacer and what steering coupler* did you use?

[kwseattle]

Yep!

Actually changed the tie rods on my e36 yesterday, pick fork and little hammer worked fine. Don't be afraid to smack the crap out if it.

How big is your hammer? Twas a mechanic for five years, never ran into a tie rod I couldn't knock out with my three pound hammer... though all the cars were up in the air. I have had to do side jobs at the house and the same hammer worked fine. The problem is most people don't hit it hard enough - trust me, you're not gonna break the steel knuckle

Guess I really just wasn't hitting hard enough, haha. I forgot that they probably have quite a large factor of safety, wouldn't want those things breaking by any sort of road impacts other than a crash.

I've actually bought myself one of these, though, so I should be fine when I attempt again tomorrow.

Another quick question, my outer tie rods didn't come with these lock nuts: .

Wtf do I do about that, find some nuts that'll fit? Annoying that my steering rack straight up didn't come with any outer tie rods on it.

[FLG]

Reason being, they expect you to be using it in an e36, in which case you would be able to transfer everything over, a complete tie rod assembly comes with them.

Heres the part numbers you need,

2x nuts 32111136494
2x clamp ring 32111136179

[kwseattle]

Reason being, they expect you to be using it in an e36, in which case you would be able to transfer everything over, a complete tie rod assembly comes with them.

Heres the part numbers you need,

2x nuts 32111136494
2x clamp ring 32111136179

Thank you for those. Now I just need to get my hands on some of these before the end of tomorrow, can't put this off another day. Might have to make a trip to the stealer D:

[jalopi]

FYI - for miscellaneous bolts go to Fastenall - just checked, there are stores in Bellingham. They're a company that, like the name implies, makes fasteners. Obviously they wouldn't have the clamp ring, but chances are they'd have the lock nuts. Their inventory is cheap and most stuff can be had in stainless steel or zinc coated if you'd like. Most times I go in, get a bag of assorted bolts/nuts that I need for a project and spend less than $5... which would cost at least 10 at pep boys, home depot, ect.

[kwseattle]

FYI - for miscellaneous bolts go to Fastenall - just checked, there are stores in Bellingham. They're a company that, like the name implies, makes fasteners. Obviously they wouldn't have the clamp ring, but chances are they'd have the lock nuts. Their inventory is cheap and most stuff can be had in stainless steel or zinc coated if you'd like. Most times I go in, get a bag of assorted bolts/nuts that I need for a project and spend less than $5... which would cost at least 10 at pep boys, home depot, ect.

Oh, thanks for checking that! I wonder if I could do it without the clamps. At this point it would be postponing my project another week.

I'd obviously get the part and then finish it next weekend, but I can't keep leaving puddles everywhere.

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[jalopi]

Technically, I don't think the threads of the outer tie rod completely come into contact with the threads on the inner tie rod until the clamp/sleeve pushes it down.

That being said, I think you'll be fine using only the lock nut for a week. Not recommended, but if you've gotta get the car on the road that's your only/best option.

Also, forgot to mention this in my last post, but Fastenall usually isn't open on the weekends... sorry guy

[FLG]

Problem is, your gonna have to get an alignment and if you want to use the correct hardware then you'll need to remove the tie rod and get yet another alignment. If you need it to just move the car you can get by without using anything really as long as your not driving it. If you want to try to find the nut local or lock nuts it's m14x1.5

I think it would be fine with a lock nut but being it's such a critical part I'm sure bmw did it that way for a reason and I'd get the proper hardware.

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[kwseattle]

I actually ended up finding the parts at the dealer, so all is well. Swap is complete, but the snow on the road in Seattle is preventing me from having any fun with the car.

Just wondering now if any companies that do rack remanufacturing will actually buy our old racks... or just take them?

I don't know what to do with my old one, haha.

[jalopi]

There was no core charge? Throw it up on craigslist then... I'm sure someone needs a core.

[kwseattle]

There was no core charge? Throw it up on craigslist then... I'm sure someone needs a core.

It was a new AAE 3111N rack. I know it probably wasn't the best idea to buy aftermarket, but it has a two year/unlimited milage warranty so I'm not worried.

I'll try craigslist, see what happens.

[jalopi]

Hehe that's the one I'm installing in my car now.... I figure the worst that could happen is the PS seals blow out?

[kwseattle]

Hehe that's the one I'm installing in my car now.... I figure the worst that could happen is the PS seals blow out?

Yeah, I'm not sure, haha.

On another note, I'm running it unpowered at the moment and MAN is it hard to steer. Everyone is saying "oh you won't notice it above 5 mph!" This is definitely BS in my case. It could be the fact that I need to get it aligned, or maybe it's my E36 M3 front suspension + large wheels.

Anybody know if misaligned front toe would cause a massive increase in steering effort? It isn't pulling at all, but it re-centers very aggressively and there also seems to be a huge amount of bump steer. ANYTHING on the road surface will almost violently jerk the wheel (correct me if I'm wrong on using the term bump steer). I'm guessing (it looked like it) that it is very toe-in at the moment.