I don't think it's gonna fit...

So I'm replacing the CV axles on my '04 R50. The passenger side has a bearing to hang the longer axle, and I couldn't find a new part that had the hanger attached. No problem, because there's just a little lock ring you pull out and then tap it off with a hammer, right?

Well, spent an awful long time getting it all apart. Trying to get the lock ring around the new one, but it's quite a big bigger than the old one. Ran my caliper just to be sure... diameter on the original shaft where you put the lock ring around is 35 mm. The new one is 50 mm!

It's a new axle made by some company called DSS and sold by a reputable supplier of MINI parts.

Any tips? Do I need to just muscle it over, somehow? Has anybody done this before?

Thanks,

Dave

 

Just in case, list the part number that you bought. There have been a couple of threads lately where what was bought was for the other model ie; bought r53 part for r50 and vice versa.

 

You will have to flex one side of the clip on while twisting it onto the shaft. You will most likely deform the ring a little in the middle due to the flex, but nothing that can't be fixed. Make sure the mount is seated as far down as it should be and the ring will slip in with less effort then it took getting it off. When the clip is seated there will be some play in it.

 

 

Well, as much as I was hoping to find an easier way, it was brute force that won the day.

I used a couple of long screwdrivers wedged against the axle to spread the ring open wide enough to pull over the axle. It didn't seem to deform the ring permanently at all.

The snap ring on the other side of the bearing came off easily enough, but the bearing didn't move when I asked politely with my hammer, and I didn't want to push it too hard since it'd already been through a lot getting the carrier bracket on and back off again.

Good luck and my sincerest sympathy to anyone else who attempts this job. It ain't pretty, but it did work, and Ollie is back on the road now. The new bearing didn't spin quite as freely as the original, and might be howling a little at high speed, but I'm guessing it just needs to break in a little.