List of e53 Diff Ratios

[x5e53]

Does someone have a list of ALL e53 Diff Ratios which they can share?

Are all the Diffs on the e53 swappable with one another?
i.e. a diff from a 3.0i would fit a 4.8is?

[X5-D-Sport]

Simple answer here...

NO, they are all different, and have differend drive shaft flanges too.
the ratios vary between engines & years.
The diff mountings to the chassis vary too.

ensuring you buy the correct replacement item is not as easy as it seems...
Turns out that an E53 diff for a 2004 diesel 3.0D Sport is a rare thing to find.. and 2nd hand will often cost £650+

[the shreksta]

can the diffs be rebuilt?

i wonder how much they are from bmw?.....................££££££££££

[X5Sport]

Very few places do diff rebuilds so scrap yards are your best bet, and even then they seem to be hard to find.  You will need a mortgage to buy new from BMW!

Got a problem?

[the shreksta]

[quote="X5Sport"]
Very few places do diff rebuilds so scrap yards are your best bet, and even then they seem to be hard to find.  You will need a mortgage to buy new from BMW!

Got a problem?
[/quote]

Lol no problem with mine but it's always nice to know options just incase. I changed the diff oils 6 months ago along with transfer box oil

[henrym3]

I'm surprised there is no one on here who rebuilds diffs, I imagine there would be little or no problems with the crown wheel or pinion and most problems would be with bearings and shimming and seals. I mention this because there was a guy (Garath) on the E30 Zone who rebuilt diffs and had an excellent reputation. I might shoot him a message if anyone is interested.

[X5Sport]

I suspect the problem may be in getting the parts, and failures as yet are not in high enough numbers together with many E53s still being roadworthy perhaps limiting supply?

That and when BMW do change them, the faulty unit vanishes back to Munich.

[Greydog]

When the rear diff on the 4.6 went 2 years ago the BMW specialist I use found a repair kit but the Warranty Company said new?? To me that made no sense on a 10 year old car.
The repair kit was around £300 from memory plus labour, the new diff was over £900 on its own the biggest inconvenience was the wait to get it from BMW. Yes I had a very nice loan car but I brought the X5 for shooting and towing the 5 series loan car while a very good car just wasn't the right car for either pass time.