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Countryman All4 Center Driveshaft Support Replacement
Hey all,
Managed to catch a rock with the center driveshaft support (3 in the image below) on my Countryman while out camping. Fortunately, we were able to get the car home without issues after a quick trail repair, but the mount needs to be replaced. I am also going to replace the flex joint disk (guibo, item 8) while I have the driveshaft apart since the car has over 100k on it now.
My question for you guys is, Do I need to remove the driveshaft from the transfer case in order to get the centering sleeve (item 7) off of the pin on the rear differential pinion flange? Or will I be able to maneuver the shaft enough once the center mount is off to slide the sleeve forward off the pin? If I can get the rear of the driveshaft off the differential, I should be able to separate the front and rear shafts right behind the U-joint around the center mount and not have to take the driveshaft off of the transfer case.
Here is a parts book picture of the whole setup:
The center mount stays with the rear portion of the driveshaft when it is separated at the U-joint (despite how the exploded parts view above depicts it).
1 is the front shaft, 2 is the rear shaft, and 3 is the bolt that holds the shaft together.
Figured I should probably update this thread now that I've completed the work in case anyone else stumbles across it with a similar problem looking for answers.
First, the answer to my main question: Can you get the center support out without removing the front section of the propshaft from the transfer case? Yes. There is plenty of movement in all of the joints of the propshaft to get the rear section out and leave the front in.
Once the exhaust, shielding, and cross braces are out, you can start by taking the bolts out of the flex joint disk (guibo). Make sure the rear end of the front propshaft is supported by a strap of some sort. Then remove the center support bolts and flex the propshaft to slide the centering bushing off of the rear diff input. The front and rear propshaft sections are balanced together as an assembly. So, make sure you mark the front and rear propshaft sections at the center joint so that you can clock them correctly when you reassemble them. (see the second image in my post above for how/where to mark the shafts) You can then start removing the bolt inside of the u-joint and separating the 2 shafts. I used a prybar to force the rear shaft out of the u-joint as I loosened the bolt and then finished it with a socket inserted into the hole once the bolt wasn't long enough get decent thread engagement anymore. After that, just press off the old center bearing, press on the new one, and put everything back together.
Here are some torque values you will find useful for the job: Flex disk to rear diff*: all bolts to 25 Nm, then all bolts 60°, then tighten all bolts an additional 10° Flex disk to propshaft*: all bolts to 43 Nm, then all bolts 60°
*Replace all flex disk hardware
Center bearing to body: 21 Nm Front propshaft to rear propshaft: 60 Nm (replace bolt or clean threads and apply thread locker
You will need a long reach crows foot in order to torque this fastener. (or a pull scale, a wrench, and some math)
Rear exhaust hanger bolts (M8): 21 Nm Exhaust V-band clamp: 25 Nm Rear cross braces to body (M8): 19 Nm Rear front to back brace (M10): 65 Nm Front cross braces to body (M14): 175 Nm Exhaust to cross brace and transmission (M8): 19 Nm (I found it helpful to leave these loose while installing the exhaust)
Thanks for writeup.
The guibo(flex disk) can be replaced while not removing entire drive shaft correct?
Correct. You will need to remove the 2 screws that hold the center propshaft supposed bearing to the body of the car. This will allow you to articulate the propshaft enough to get the center alignment pin out of the flex disk.
Your illustrations are great! Thanks for sharing. Our MINI dealer says our guibo joint has excessive wear after 31K miles. Seems crazy for a 2021 MINI CCS All4. They will not cover it under warranty. $1400 parts and labor.
So, I have minor experience working on easy DIY things for our Porsche Cayenne and thinking about tackling this one. I updated the cardan shaft center support replacement on our 2006 Cayenne. But that was a simple aftermarket kit, and easily accessible compared to what it looks like in the 2021 MINI Countryman.
I have a torque wrench, floor jack and jack stands in my garage. And a decent set of tools.
How long did this take you and as far as experience what is the level needed to do this?
In your opinion, does it make sense to do both center support and guibo in one shot? That's how the Cayenne kit came, with both parts.
It will be tight under the vehicle with just jack stands, but probably doable. I haven't done any work on a F60 Countryman, so I can't really comment to the difficulty of that job, but I would assume it's fairly similar.
Here are some F60 Countryman torques you may find helpful:
Drive shaft to transfer case (insert nut): 80 Nm
Flex disk to rear driveshaft: 55 + 90° (bolts must be replaced each time)
Flex disk to rear diff: 55 Nm + 90° (bolts must be replaced each time)
Center driveshaft support to body: 19 Nm
Front driveshaft section to rear section: 90 Nm (replace nut, circlip, and sealing ring)
If you are just replacing the rear guibo, you shouldn't need to remove the driveshaft from the car or separate the front and rear sections of the shaft. You will need to remove the bolts holding the center driveshaft support bearing to the body, but that will be pretty easy to do. Make sure you suspend the driveshaft with a strap or bungee cord to prevent the joints from over articulating while you are working.
Basic procedure would be:
1. Remove any shields, exhaust, etc. that is in the way of getting at the center shaft support or flex joint
2. place strap under rear of shaft to ensure it doesn't fall down and cause damage by over articulating the joint
3. Remove fasteners from flex joint
4. remove the bolts for the center support.
5. Remove the flex joint and centering bushing. (you may need some sort of bushing puller for the centering bushing)
6. Gently press/tap in the new centering bushing.
7. Install the new flex joint and torque fasteners to 55 Nm then rotate each fastener an additional 90°
8. reinstall the fasteners for the center shaft support bearing. Torque to 19 Nm
9. Reinstall any shields or exhaust you had to remove.
Did some more digging and looks like you're going to need to take the exhaust off as well in order to get to the center support and driveshaft. Here are some more torques for you:
Has anyone done or know anything about putting in poly flex disc potentially? Had a guibo replaced under warranty a little over two years ago when the car was still leased. It's now owned, cracking again, and evidently not under their two year parts warranty.
I don't want to pay them $1100, nor do I want to change it again myself in another 2 years.
Reading other forums, it seems aluminum is overkill and will potentially damage other parts of the drivetrain, but has anyone tried or considered a poly one? Read some bmw guys used them from Ireland engineering; it may be the same guibo as the E90 (not sure yet)
Clicking on the link you shared here for similar fitment, there is quite a long list of other BMW's using the same guibo. Surely one of them has an aftermarket part which perhaps holds up better? Just a bit wary of NVH and other things which could be damaged by increased vibrations.
