Propshaft central bearing and guibo

bigwinn

bigwinn

Elite
 Lincoln UK
Site Supporter
Hi all

Looking to solve a drivetrain clunk on a friends car

Suggestion is it’s either the rubber guibo that needs replacing, the joint that needs greasing or the central bearing needs renewing

Having not done this before and reading the pelican parts guide I’m not confident that this can be done on the drive on axle stands:

Anyone had experience of doing this and any insight please?
 
One of those jobs I want to look at and have wondered the same thing. I did my E46 320d on the drive - I think I must have had it on ramps at one end and axle stands the other.
 
Now you're asking, must be 6 or 7 years ago. The only bit I remember having trouble with was a circlip on the bearing (IIRC) but I can't see such a thing on RealOEM for the Z4.
 
I'm in the middle of doing this right now (along with a rear subframe refresh) in my garden with 4x axle stands. It's not the most fun, but totally doable. I'd suggest removing the prop from the car entirely (factor in new bolts to attach it to the diff, too) and you should be ok. Trying to swap the bearings under the car would be a nightmare.

Fwiw, I went with febi for the guibo and genuine BMW for the prop shaft bearing, as I didn't want to do the bearing a second time if the aftermarket bearing wasn't very good.

When I did it on my e30, the hardest part was getting through propshaft apart, but it's a different design on the e85/6, so I think it shouldn't put up too much of a challenge.
 
TriggerFish said:
I'm in the middle of doing this right now (along with a rear subframe refresh) in my garden with 4x axle stands. It's not the most fun, but totally doable. I'd suggest removing the prop from the car entirely (factor in new bolts to attach it to the diff, too) and you should be ok. Trying to swap the bearings under the car would be a nightmare.

Fwiw, I went with febi for the guibo and genuine BMW for the prop shaft bearing, as I didn't want to do the bearing a second time if the aftermarket bearing wasn't very good.

When I did it on my e30, the hardest part was getting through propshaft apart, but it's a different design on the e85/6, so I think it shouldn't put up too much of a challenge.
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Brilliant- great insight thank you
 
Working up to do this on one of the Zedshed Cymru members cars, looks like the biggest job is exhaust downpipe bolts/studs if there is anything left of them. Decent puller also to get the centre bearing off the shaft.
 
colb said:
Working up to do this on one of the Zedshed Cymru members cars, looks like the biggest job is exhaust downpipe bolts/studs if there is anything left of them. Decent puller also to get the centre bearing off the shaft.
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Yes, that was a pain on mine, too. One came undone, the others I had to cut with a Dremel. So new bolts and gaskets all round.

Also worth throwing in new central exhaust rubbers imo, as they bolt in from the top and can't easily be accessed with the exhaust on the car.

It's also a good time to do the diff input seal, if that's weeping at all, too.
 
I removed the prop shaft and replaced the bearing and the guibo on my M car all on 4 axel stands in a single garage

Make a note of how the guibo bolts on the gearbox as you can get it wrong and that is not good
 
Check the 3rd bolt on the diff the one at the side as this if loose will clunk on off load
 
As others have said, removed the prop entirely from the car and it's a very straight forward job. The only 'special' tool I needed was a vice. I didn't need to use pullers.

The two things you don't want to get wrong:

  1. Ensure to mark the position of the two halves of the drive shaft so they don't go out of balance.
  2. The guibo orientation. Hard points should follow the rotation of the output flange in the gearbox (anti-clockwise when you're facing it).

Good luck with the clunking... From the 3 drivetrains I have refreshed, I would bet it's just gearbox + diff backlash and replacing guibo and CSB won't really help very much.
 
Also, if it helps...

I saw online that people said Febi was the OEM for the guibo (by virtue of reboxing SGF parts). My guibo arrived today, and it's a Febi, but is a reboxed SGF, whose logo is also on the BMW part. So there you go! Febi for £40 off eBay, or over £100 from BMW PXL_20260330_115952396.MP.jpgPXL_20260330_120008479.MP.jpg
 
I did mine on my ///M when I was replacing the diff input seal.

I suggest marking a line for the CSB on the chassis before removing. This removes any questions over if the bearing should be pre loaded 5mm or not.

Febi do reboxed OEM parts for the CSB and guibo. Both of mine were removed originals.

It's awkward but doable overall. Exhaust can be a pain to remove and refit.
 
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