[kahn23]

I'm fairly sure I have a bad wheel bearing in the front passenger side (standard drone, disappears when you turn the wheel one way, gets louder turning the other etc.) I've looked at a lot of videos online, but none seem to be for a 428i or especially an xDrive. I was wondering if anyone has replaced one on an xDrive? If so, is it difficult and any idea of a tool list or any special tools needed? Thanks in advance!

[Billfitz]

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...uckle/KHOmg9S8

Videos have their place but they haven't yet replaced books, even if the books are now found on line.

[kahn23]

Thanks for the info. Definitely different than the videos online as far as the collar bolt/compression ring goes...They weren't in the video. Not sure if that's an xDrive only thing? But anyway thanks, I'll be reading this and doing a bit more research before I perform the task so as not to mess anything up.

[kingmonkey8]

Originally Posted by kahn23

I'm fairly sure I have a bad wheel bearing in the front passenger side (standard drone, disappears when you turn the wheel one way, gets louder turning the other etc.) I've looked at a lot of videos online, but none seem to be for a 428i or especially an xDrive. I was wondering if anyone has replaced one on an xDrive? If so, is it difficult and any idea of a tool list or any special tools needed? Thanks in advance!

How do you know if it's a bad bearing?
Raise the car and spin the wheels to check if there is any resistance or noise.

I did replace both front bearing hubs on a 428i but it was non xdrive. It was alot more straight forward than I expected. I didn't even need to drop the suspension strut. Just needed the right torx bit, flex wrench, needs a short stubby bit as the gap is quite tight to get the wrench in.
For the xdrive should be similar but you probably need to remove the drive shaft to access the torx bolts. So probably need to drop the suspension strut or lower control arm.
You will need to remove the drive shaft anyway to change the hub, which can be a bit of a job if you don't have the right tools.

[pshovest]

Nearly impossible to "spin" the front wheels on an x-drive because of differential and transfer case resistance.

[kahn23]

Originally Posted by kingmonkey8

How do you know if it's a bad bearing?
Raise the car and spin the wheels to check if there is any resistance or noise.

I did replace both front bearing hubs on a 428i but it was non xdrive. It was alot more straight forward than I expected. I didn't even need to drop the suspension strut. Just needed the right torx bit, flex wrench, needs a short stubby bit as the gap is quite tight to get the wrench in.
For the xdrive should be similar but you probably need to remove the drive shaft to access the torx bolts. So probably need to drop the suspension strut or lower control arm.
You will need to remove the drive shaft anyway to change the hub, which can be a bit of a job if you don't have the right tools.

Why would I need to remove the drive shaft to change the hub? I do realize they are connected to each other, but it looks like if you remove the tire, caliper bracket/caliper, rotor, and collar bolt then turn the wheel, you remove the 4 bolts holding the hub in from the back and using a puller of your choice, remove the hub. Am I missing something?

[kingmonkey8]

Originally Posted by kahn23

Why would I need to remove the drive shaft to change the hub? I do realize they are connected to each other, but it looks like if you remove the tire, caliper bracket/caliper, rotor, and collar bolt then turn the wheel, you remove the 4 bolts holding the hub in from the back and using a puller of your choice, remove the hub. Am I missing something?

You are right, the bearing piece is separate to the hub. So the hub doesn't have to be detached.
I was thinking more to get the clearance to undo the bolts but looking at the tisinfo, it looks like the shaft doesn't have to be removed.
But you will need a bearing puller to pull the bearing piece off. I remember when I swapped the rear drive shaft. The shaft was quite difficult to remove from the hub and to get the shaft properly seated back in the hub. You can get a tool that screws onto the shaft thread to pull the shaft through.

To make the job easier I would recommend you get the short stubby torx bit as normal bits didn't fit in the gap behind hub. I remember three of the bolts were quite easy to take out but there was one that was more difficult to get to.
Also using a wobble extension and extendable high torque flex head wrench made the job a whole lot easier as the angle meant normal straight extension bars wouldn't seat properly in the torx bit.

Another thing to bear in mind is when I bought the oem replacement bearing hubs.
I took the old hub off and put the replacement hub on only to find out the thread width was different than the old one so I had to buy some new torx bolts from BMW. Also the actual torx bolt heads on the new bolts was different. The new bolts were the same size but were torx plus so I had to buy a stubby torx plus bit which was not easy to get hold of.
If your new hub comes with bolts or the thread width is the same you can re-use the old bolts.

[kahn23]

Originally Posted by kingmonkey8

You are right, the bearing piece is separate to the hub. So the hub doesn't have to be detached.
I was thinking more to get the clearance to undo the bolts but looking at the tisinfo, it looks like the shaft doesn't have to be removed.
But you will need a bearing puller to pull the bearing piece off. I remember when I swapped the rear drive shaft. The shaft was quite difficult to remove from the hub and to get the shaft properly seated back in the hub. You can get a tool that screws onto the shaft thread to pull the shaft through.

To make the job easier I would recommend you get the short stubby torx bit as normal bits didn't fit in the gap behind hub. I remember three of the bolts were quite easy to take out but there was one that was more difficult to get to.
Also using a wobble extension and extendable high torque flex head wrench made the job a whole lot easier as the angle meant normal straight extension bars wouldn't seat properly in the torx bit.

Another thing to bear in mind is when I bought the oem replacement bearing hubs.
I took the old hub off and put the replacement hub on only to find out the thread width was different than the old one so I had to buy some new torx bolts from BMW. Also the actual torx bolt heads on the new bolts was different. The new bolts were the same size but were torx plus so I had to buy a stubby torx plus bit which was not easy to get hold of.
If your new hub comes with bolts or the thread width is the same you can re-use the old bolts.

Thanks for the info. I already have a bearing puller kit that i used on my wife's VW, should work well for this too. I'm not uite sure what you mean when you refer to the "short stubby torx bit"?

Other than thet, I think I'm good to go!

[FaRKle!]

Removing the front drive shafts from the hubs/knuckles is really easy, no puller required. I did it when changing tension struts. Also you won't need to take the knuckle off of the strut.

Tip: break free the collar bolt that holds the bearing to the drive shaft while the car is on the ground. It'll be difficult to hold the bearing/rotor still when trying to loosen it otherwise (unless you have another person who can hold the brake down for you).

[kingmonkey8]

Originally Posted by kahn23

Thanks for the info. I already have a bearing puller kit that i used on my wife's VW, should work well for this too. I'm not uite sure what you mean when you refer to the "short stubby torx bit"?

Other than thet, I think I'm good to go!

Something like this where the torx bit is one piece and shorter.
Unless you get some long torx bits, but they tend to snap.
I think it's the T60 torx.

[kingmonkey8]

Originally Posted by FaRKle!

Removing the front drive shafts from the hubs/knuckles is really easy, no puller required. I did it when changing tension struts. Also you won't need to take the knuckle off of the strut.

Tip: break free the collar bolt that holds the bearing to the drive shaft while the car is on the ground. It'll be difficult to hold the bearing/rotor still when trying to loosen it otherwise (unless you have another person who can hold the brake down for you).

If you leave it in gear, that will stop the rotor turning.

[Billfitz]

Get a set of these:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-1...Set/1000595141