Page 1 of 3

Subframe and Steering Reinforcement FAQ

Posted: May 26, 2009 4:40 AM
by George
This FAQ has been moved to the Wiki: Subframe and Steering Reinforcement - The E28 Wiki

Posted: Jun 26, 2009 12:29 AM
by Nebraska_e28
Excellent write-up! :clap:

Posted: Jun 26, 2009 2:00 AM
by Msystem
good job.
thanks!

Posted: Jun 26, 2009 8:10 AM
by Shawn D.
Sweet writeup -- I'm doing the same soon!

BTW, the word is "reinforcement." "Re-enforcement" would be something like two cops giving you tickets for the same incident instead of one. ;)

Posted: Jun 26, 2009 8:16 AM
by Nebraska_e28
Shawn D. wrote: "Re-enforcement" would be something like two cops giving you tickets for the same incident instead of one. ;)
Definition: When your 3rd grade teacher smacks you on the hand for shooting pencils at the ceiling with ruler & rubber band setup.

Posted: Jun 26, 2009 8:03 PM
by misha
that is a great write up. Just makes this forum that much better.

:banana:

Posted: Apr 13, 2010 8:34 PM
by ealinn
bump for a sticky!

Eric

Posted: Apr 13, 2010 9:02 PM
by euro635gas
You can also just break the bracket off. Grind the old welds away. Weld a beefy washer over the hole and use the aluminum spacer that is stock on any E32 or E34. Fixed for good. Did this to my 533i over 5 years ago and has never had a problem since.

Nice write up.

The nice thing about BMW is that they fix problems. They fixed it on the E32 and E34s.

Posted: Apr 13, 2010 11:46 PM
by locusteater
Any more bulletproof, and some folks' E28's will come under federal scrutiny. :) (Now to find a spare subframe to minimize downtime . . . . . .)

Posted: Apr 14, 2010 5:59 AM
by johnnye23
Great writeup !! :laugh:

Posted: Apr 14, 2010 1:02 PM
by euro635gas
locusteater wrote:Any more bulletproof, and some folks' E28's will come under federal scrutiny. :) (Now to find a spare subframe to minimize downtime . . . . . .)
I have one that the bracket broke off. I recently replaced one on a customers E24 and have his old one. $50 plus shipping

Posted: Apr 14, 2010 7:39 PM
by Lee in MD
All this talk about broken brackets made me paranoid, so I just went out and checked mine and found that the PO already did a bolt and spacer job on the intact bracket. That makes him an alright guy in my book. Too bad some street racing punk in a WRX sent him to the hereafter before his time. Might have been a good guy to know.

Posted: Apr 15, 2010 12:00 PM
by George
still no stickeee :|

Posted: Apr 15, 2010 4:15 PM
by Lee in MD
Rather than be a sticky in Tech Talk, shouldn't this thread be promoted to the Tech FAQ? Busted steering box mounts seem to be common enough to warrant a FAQ topic.

Posted: Apr 15, 2010 4:24 PM
by George
Thats what I meant, should have clarified better.

Posted: Apr 15, 2010 8:23 PM
by Philo
Lee.., what happened to the PO ??

Also, I posted this as a separate thread but feel it's relative to the steering bracket conversation...

http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?p=681612#681612

Posted: Apr 16, 2010 12:16 AM
by Lee in MD
Philo wrote:Lee.., what happened to the PO ??

Also, I posted this as a separate thread but feel it's relative to the steering bracket conversation...

http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?p=681612#681612
Apparently, the guy was a bit of a car enthusiast with several other old rides in addition to the E28. According to his college age son who showed me car, he was out driving around D.C. in his RX-7 one day when he got t-boned by a kid in a WRX. Sure enough, some time after I purchased his E28 I found his registration papers buried in the glove box, Google News'd him, and found a small article in the Washington Post about the accident. Apparently he was on some surface street in the D.C. area that I can't recall and trying to make a left turn onto a side street when this asshole kid in a WRX coming the other way and estimated by police to be going over 100 mph, t-boned him and made him into an instant DOA. IIRC the article said the RX-7 went up in flames and the WRX kid was life-flighted to a local hospital with "life threatening injuries". I never could find any follow up articles to find out if the boy racer dickwad survived or not. Call me a big jerk if you like, but I honestly hope he survived with severe debilitating injuries for what he did to that kid and his mother. The college kid showed me the car but the title was in his mother's name. You should have seen the look on that poor woman's face when she signed the title over to me at my kitchen table. I wanted to give her and her son a big hug but that would have been too weird for all of us. I told the kid that I planned to fix the car up and probably even repaint it and he said his dad would have like that. How's that for pressure :laugh:

Posted: Apr 16, 2010 10:46 AM
by turbodan
Never had a problem with my steering box mount.

M30 cars FTL

Posted: Oct 28, 2010 9:43 PM
by lmc337
Read this previously when the subject came up -
This morning, my bracket snapped...
had to search to find it again - would have though it would be a sticky in Tech FAQ by now -

Please, oh! Please Beamters, give George the fine credit for the fine write up and enshrine this article to the Tech FAQ section!!


Any edits or editing I can assist with (don't seem to see any myself, pretty straight forward in clear plain English with nice photos to boot!). Only one I can suggest is the link to http://www.mwrench.com/

Steering box

Posted: Nov 23, 2010 11:10 AM
by edlocke
turbodan wrote:Never had a problem with my steering box mount.

M30 cars FTL
You won't if you drive it like a girlie girl......... :D

Posted: Nov 25, 2010 4:09 AM
by ASLAN
so i know my bracket is toast but i wont have time to fix it for awhile. is it dangerous to continue driving the car without fixing it?

Mwrench

Posted: Nov 25, 2010 4:51 AM
by edlocke
ASLAN wrote:so i know my bracket is toast but i wont have time to fix it for awhile. is it dangerous to continue driving the car without fixing it?
Find 20 minutes and install the "mwrench" fix-it dowel and bolt.....it's that easy.

Posted: Nov 25, 2010 5:45 AM
by ASLAN
reading this write up made me feel that i should pull out the sub frame. i guess ill use bolt/dowel method until i have the time to do it right.

Posted: Nov 25, 2010 8:33 AM
by lmc337
ASLAN wrote:reading this write up made me feel that i should pull out the sub frame. i guess ill use bolt/dowel method until i have the time to do it right.
No need. Use the bolt, sleeve and big washer method temporarily. No subframe removal necessary unless you like extra work for either repair.

Do not drive with the broken mount!! Steering is essential...

Posted: Nov 25, 2010 11:42 AM
by C.R. Krieger
ASLAN wrote:so i know my bracket is toast but i wont have time to fix it for awhile. is it dangerous to continue driving the car without fixing it?
YES!

Bump for inclusion in the Tech FAQ.

Posted: Jul 03, 2011 1:57 PM
by Frybrid 524td
C.R. Krieger wrote:Bump for inclusion in the Tech FAQ.

Posted: Jul 05, 2011 9:08 PM
by LA
euro635gas wrote:You can also just break the bracket off. Grind the old welds away. Weld a beefy washer over the hole and use the aluminum spacer that is stock on any E32 or E34. Fixed for good. Did this to my 533i over 5 years ago and has never had a problem since.

Nice write up.

The nice thing about BMW is that they fix problems. They fixed it on the E32 and E34s.
I can't seem to find the al spacer you refer to when I look at E32 and E34 info on realoem.com - could you help with a link maybe?

Thanks,
LA

Posted: Sep 30, 2011 12:29 PM
by draztik
Where would I purchase the Mwrench steel dowel?

Posted: Oct 01, 2011 2:54 AM
by mechacode
Email Ed over at MWrench.

Posted: Oct 10, 2011 9:49 PM
by draztik
Hey I e-mailed Ed from mwrench and he responded quickly. He also had the kit in stock and ready to ship out for $55 shipped. Got the kit in a day or two and I'm happy with the quality.

Image

Image

Image

Image