1990 525 Upper Controller Arm/Thrust Arm Replacement

[dmacimus]

Hi Everyone. I will be replacing my Upper Controller Arm/Thrust Arm on my 1990 525 soon and wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations or suggestions or experiences to share.

I have been hearing a loud "clunk noise" when I hit the breaks, so I took it to the BMW shop where I have been having work done. They stated it was the thrust arm and quoted me a price of $380 for replacement. He is a friend of my brothers, so I don't think he would rip me but I thought that the price was alittle high. Plus, money is getting pretty tight for me. :bounce: So I am in the process of deciding if I should do it myself.

On this site, it is suggested that I use the OEM BMW Lemforder arms + 750 bushings pressed. Has anyone used these? Would anyone else recommend these or any others. I checked www.bavarianautosport.com for compaison and the Lemforder's are cheaper.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Don

[Rory]

Hi Don,

Check www.bmwe34.net for more information. Yes, you want to make sure that you use Lemforder arms and 750 bushings are beefier so they should last longer. BMA has the lowest prices around for 99.9% of things (888-BMA-3911) and they will take good care of you. It is a DIY job with a few simple tools, lots of elbow grease and some luck. If all goes well it can take less than an hour per side. If it is a nightmare expect all day of banging. But hopefully luck is on your side.

Good Luck,
Rory

Hi Everyone. I will be replacing my Upper Controller Arm/Thrust Arm on my 1990 525 soon and wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations or suggestions or experiences to share.

I have been hearing a loud "clunk noise" when I hit the breaks, so I took it to the BMW shop where I have been having work done. They stated it was the thrust arm and quoted me a price of $380 for replacement. He is a friend of my brothers, so I don't think he would rip me but I thought that the price was alittle high. Plus, money is getting pretty tight for me. :bounce: So I am in the process of deciding if I should do it myself.

On this site, it is suggested that I use the OEM BMW Lemforder arms + 750 bushings pressed. Has anyone used these? Would anyone else recommend these or any others. I checked www.bavarianautosport.com for compaison and the Lemforder's are cheaper.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Don

[Gary M]

Call BMA for the parts. For my 93 525i they were about $85 each. I had a mechanic install them for $120. The $120 was well worth the cost. I tried to do it myself, but I didn't have an impact tool to get off the bolts. Also from reading the forum and watching my mechanic breaking the ball joint connection is pretty difficult.

Hi Everyone. I will be replacing my Upper Controller Arm/Thrust Arm on my 1990 525 soon and wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations or suggestions or experiences to share.

I have been hearing a loud "clunk noise" when I hit the breaks, so I took it to the BMW shop where I have been having work done. They stated it was the thrust arm and quoted me a price of $380 for replacement. He is a friend of my brothers, so I don't think he would rip me but I thought that the price was alittle high. Plus, money is getting pretty tight for me. :bounce: So I am in the process of deciding if I should do it myself.

On this site, it is suggested that I use the OEM BMW Lemforder arms + 750 bushings pressed. Has anyone used these? Would anyone else recommend these or any others. I checked www.bavarianautosport.com for compaison and the Lemforder's are cheaper.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Don

[Aaron Bakos]

www.racingking.net has Lemforder Arms w/750 bushings pressed for $80/side, best deal I've seen on the web.

The DIY procedure for this isn't bad. Cracking the nuts loose is fairly easy, but breaking the taper fit on the ball joints is the hard part. I use a pickle fork and a BFH, works every time. You just have to pop the steering arm plate (or whatever it's called) off to get the pickle fork in. Don't be shy with the BFH either.

Make sure you wait until the car is down to torque the bolts that go through the bushings. It's nice to have a set of ramps for that.

[Roland]

I've completed this job on my 90 525iA. As stated above, if you have the basics (torque wrench, metric sockets and wrenches), a BFH and a pickle fork you can do this job on your own. You may want to try anti-sieze in the ball joint on re-assembly to make the job easier next time.

My local Autozone rents pitman arm pullers that also work well for breaking the ball joint and don't require wielding the hammer. Pretty inexpensive to rent- $0.

Cheers,

Roland

[Triton540i]

Order New Thrust Arms with 750 upgrade bushings from BMA.

-Take torch and burn at the rubber sleeve that goes over ball joint boot and remove as much of the old boot as you can to fully expose the ball joint shaft.

-Take Liquid Wrench and spray on shaft of ball joint and on threads.

-Place 22mm open wrench around face of ball joint shaft to take up space and lay an impact (non-aggressive) pickle fork on top with ends going around ball joint shaft.

-Take 4 LB mallet and strike aggressively at picklefork and the ball joint should seperate and come loose within about 10 hard blows.

-Replace with new Thrust Arms and follow procedure for proper torque.

Used this technique after long trial and error session with the driver's side. It worked on the passenger side with in 5 minutes! Good Luck!
-Eric

[hpipe]

I have a 91 535i and I need to replace the thrust arms as well. I referenced the bmwe34.net site and it said to use Lemforder parts only. Like many people, money is tight, and I can get a set of TRW thrust arms with the 750iL busings for $120...but my question is : Is it worth the extra $$$ for the Lemforder parts?

Thanks,
hpipe

[632 Regal]

Parts are one of the areas you do not want to save money on unless their original parts.TRW's are inferior, dont last as long and unless you need the practice and want to do it again in less than a year I would get them from BMA.