# Differential Carrier, Remove and Install.

Remove exhaust system |
Remove rear section of heat shield above exhaust. Four 10mm bolts. |

Disconnect wiring for speedometer (green arrow) and remove harness from securing clip (blue arrow). |
Remove the six 8mm Allen head bolts and 3 supports (blue arrow) securing each axles to the differential. |
Pull axle away from differential and tie it to the body with string or wire. Do not let axle hang from car.
Remove the four 17mm nuts securing the driveshaft to the differential. The driveshaft can be locked in place by placing manual transmission in gear or Automatic in Park. |
Support differential with jack or similar. Remove the four 19mm bolts securing differential to rear sub-frame. |
Remove 19mm bolt from rear differential mount and remove differential. |
CAUTION!: Differential is heavy, take care not to drop it when removing final bolt.
Separate drive shaft halves by loosening slip nut and sliding rear section of shaft out. |
NOTE: Mark both halves of shaft first, shaft is balanced as a unit and must be assembled in correct orientation or vibration will result.
Support rear sub-frame and remove the 22mm nut and two 6mm Allen bolts from each sub-frame bracket. |
Lower sub-frame slightly. Mounts may be seized on studs, in which case, knocking the side of the mounts with a hammer will usually free them.
Disconnect brake hoses on either side to prevent them being stretched. |
Cut any plastic cable ties securing brake sensor wiring to sub-frame. Pop park brake cables out of plastic holders.
Remove the 19mm nuts from each bolt securing control arm to sub-frame. Do not remove bolts at this time.
Carefully slide both bolts out of each control arm and pull control arm free of sub-frame. Control arm is currently supported by both the rear shock and the sway bar. It may be necessary to disconnect the sway bar to achieve the clearance required to separate the control arms from the sub-frame. As long as brake hose is disconnected, no damage can result from allowing control arm to hang free, however, if you have something, such as a jack stand, available to support the control arm, use it.
Remove support from under sub-frame and drop sub-frame out of car.

### Installation:

Install control arm bolts, without tightening, before tightening sub-frame mount nuts. The extra play in having the sub-frame loose will make control arm installation easier.
Do not tighten control arm bolts until everything else is assembled. Place vehicle's weight on its wheels to correctly pre-tension the bushings before tightening control arms.
Vehicle's rear wheels can be placed on blocks or spare wheels to achieve pre-loading while still allowing access under the rear of the vehicle to tighten the bolts.
Bleed brake system

### Torques:

Sub frame support to body (Allen bolts) | : | 28 Nm (20 ft lbs.)
Sub frame support to mount stud | : | 140 Nm (101 ft lbs.)
Control arm to sub-frame (suspension loaded) | : | 67 Nm (48 ft lbs.)
Differential to rear sub-frame, 19mm bolts | : | 110 Nm (80 ft lbs.)
Differential cover mount to body | : | 87 Nm (63 ft lbs.)
Sway bar link to control arm | : | 21.5 Nm (16 ft lbs.)

E30 M3 Repair Manual V2.7. Copyright ©1999-2001 Koala Motorsport & Brett Anderson