Pride goeth during the Fall
Oct
2008
Winter approaches in Portland, and the chilly rains of Autumn call the Mustang to the garage. That migration means that “easy” rally car repairs will be done under the canopy. What’s an easy repair? I used to think I knew — now I have my doubts about whether any repair job should be called easy before it’s completed.
Just a week before Night On Bald Mountain, I’d found a torn C.V. boot on the front left side of the iX. My favorite professional rally car mechanic was headed out of town, so I had to face the job on my own. I borrowed some advice and rented some pullers, and diligently went about removing the half shaft to replace the boots. There were a couple of difficult fasteners, and a surprise bad bearing, but the BMW was back together with time to spare, and ran well at NOBM.
I must confess I crowed a bit to my iX-driving friends about the successful wrenching, and, heady with confidence, tore into the right front the day after the rally. If a left boot goes (and the left wheel bearing was bad), isn’t it imminent that a right boot will go (and a right wheel bearing bears replacing)? And it’s so easy to do…
Ahem. It’s just now completely apart, and while I ponder whether the somewhat corroded hub should be replaced, I’ll let this picture tell the story of the dis-assembly. The hammer on the left was enough for the left side… but the right side almost wanted a bigger brother yet.
