<E34> Steering Box Rebuild

[Gary Barone <gmbarone@xxxxxxx>]

I think Dad's '89 535i (60K miles) is in need of a steering box rebuild.

Diagnosis went something like this:  Dad's been experiencing a nasty shudder
through the steering wheel when driving over small to moderate bumps,
particularly when cornering.  An examination reveals both left and right tie
rods are shot.  So Dad and I do the whole enchilada, left, right and center
tie rods, idler arm and lower control arms (some cracking in the bushings). 
The thrust arm bushings had been replaced by the stealer 3K miles ago. 
Figuring that surely we had the shudder licked, we take her out for a test
drive.  Damn! Shudder still there!

Back to work.  We proceed to adjust the steering box as tight as is acceptable
but no luck.  Tighten the nut securing the steering wheel shaft to the
firewall, no luck.  We observed an alarming amount of freeplay within the box
(almost an eighth of a turn of the steering wheel before any perceptible
movement of the steering box pitman arm).  In contrast, my wife's 525iT has
almost no freeplay within the steering box.

Does anyone have any experience with rebuilding an E34 steering box?  I saw
that someone on the digest had related a successful experience rebuilding an
E28 steering box some time ago, is the E34 the same?  Anyone have a good
source of rebuilt steering boxes if this procedure is beyond DIY?

TIA,

Gary Barone
'93 525iT
'92 318i


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