Subframe and Steering Reinforcement

[MWrench]

Hi Guys: I will be out of the country for 2 weeks starting Oct 31 afternoon. I will not be able to respond until I return. I have finished a new run of kits and are in stock ready when I return. I can fill requests today and tomorrow.

Sorry for any inconvienience this may cause

[BuzzBomb]

Hey guys, I already have a reinforced subframe (it came that way), but my issue is the whole steering box is shifting, and it's the other mount. I haven't gotten under the car to look at it, but could the other horizontal mount be broken? Or the mounting point on the box itself? It's been this way for a while, since I noticed old bits of wood jammed between the box and frame rail. A previous skilled craftsman repair, apparently. I've never heard of such a thing happening. I'm lucky!

[mooseheadm5]

It is possible for the outboard mount to fail. This happens after the inboard mount fails because the box will pivot up and down which will essentially saw a slot into the holes for the outboard mount. What you can do is position the box properly and install the bolt with some fender washers on either side. Crank the bolt down and then tack weld the washers in place.

[hobibill]

It took an hour to install only because there was a factory weld bead blocking the top hole. I was able to get my Dremel on it and the dowel was in within minutes. Big difference! The factory mount was broken off clean.
BTW, Ed is a nice guy and really good to deal with. Every e28 should have this mod.

[jjcarr]

Same here, someone had done a crappy job of re-welding the factory mount on mine. A little dremmel work and this sucker mounted right up. Big thumbs up for a quality product.

[Blue Shadow]

Yes this needs to move to the FAQ section. Not really needed on a daily basis to announce this to the masses.

[Pistonbroke]

Thanks heaps for putting this vital info together.
Trust the kit is still available?

Might now change my tag to 'Turning broke'

[und28mpg/hwy]

S W E E T !

[trevmmeister]

Steering is essential...

Right?

[BonitaBeast]

Sorry for the thread resurrection, but would anyone know if this kit is still available?

Thanks in advance.

[tig]

Yes, I bought one a few months ago. Just emailed ed at eraether AT comcast.net and he promptly responded.

[BonitaBeast]

Thanks! Will email him now

[BonitaBeast]

It took an hour to install only because there was a factory weld bead blocking the top hole. I was able to get my Dremel on it and the dowel was in within minutes. Big difference! The factory mount was broken off clean.
BTW, Ed is a nice guy and really good to deal with. Every e28 should have this mod.

+1 on this same experience.

Mine is now installed, welded, and painted. Thanks Ed!

[kaiream]

i will order one too!!!! my steering feels similar to a tractor.

[trevmmeister]

Ordered mine today. Ed was a really nice guy, and easy to communicate with, to say the least. Responded very quickly to emails and had it ready to ship as soon as payment cleared.

As of now, I am driving for the next few days (and who knows how long so far?) with one side of my bracket broken, while the other seems to be holding in there.

One question I had was, when installing Ed's dowel, can I leave the bracket on there and just work through it? Or does it need to be removed completely?

If it is able to be left alone, does the big washer go on the bottom of the bracket, or the top, against the steering box itself?

EDIT; Also, once the kit is mounted, is welding it to the subframe necessary? Otherwise, would it be okay just to torque(what would the torque be?) the bolt down and leave it?

[BonitaBeast]

From what I recall, the big washer goes on the bottom but I know I did not need to install it as per the instructions included since my steering bracket is not broken. And welding to the subframe is not necessary once installed, although it is encouraged. The instructions included are pretty thorough so you shouldn't have a problem.

Ordered mine today. Ed was a really nice guy, and easy to communicate with, to say the least. Responded very quickly to emails and had it ready to ship as soon as payment cleared.

As of now, I am driving for the next few days (and who knows how long so far?) with one side of my bracket broken, while the other seems to be holding in there.

One question I had was, when installing Ed's dowel, can I leave the bracket on there and just work through it? Or does it need to be removed completely?

If it is able to be left alone, does the big washer go on the bottom of the bracket, or the top, against the steering box itself?

EDIT; Also, once the kit is mounted, is welding it to the subframe necessary? Otherwise, would it be okay just to torque(what would the torque be?) the bolt down and leave it?

[trevmmeister]

Cool, thanks for the reply. I wasnt aware that he included instructions(I have, however, read all of the tutorials, including the one on Ed's site), so thats a relief.

Edit;

Got to installing the dowel today and found that my box mount wasn't just "barely holding on by one weld point", no... it was completely snapped off. And here I was wondering why my steering was THAT loose...

Pulled the old bolt out, time consuming as hell given the very little amount of movement room, pushed the piece in, lined up the washers and bolts, and tightened that bolt down until I could physically do no more. No welding at all. The entire driving feel of the car has transformed, its so tight and responsive, just like she used to be.

Thanks again, Ed. Great product.

[icetempest]

Sorry to bring this up, but I haven't been able to contact Ed, he's not answering emails, anyone knows his whereabouts?

[Lucas_Roehr]

Sorry to bring this up, but I haven't been able to contact Ed, he's not answering emails, anyone knows his whereabouts?

After all of these years of numerous e28 ownership, one of mine finally needs one of these. I emailed him today, hopefully he gets both of our messages soon.

[MWrench]

Sorry to bring this up, but I haven't been able to contact Ed, he's not answering emails, anyone knows his whereabouts?

I have checked my email and don't see your contact attempt. Please resend.

regards

[icetempest]

Sorry to bring this up, but I haven't been able to contact Ed, he's not answering emails, anyone knows his whereabouts?

I have checked my email and don't see your contact attempt. Please resend.

regards

Pmed and also mail resent.

[Evan]

Over the past couple days, I have called Ed at the number listed on the MWrench website, emailed him 2x at the email listed on the site, along with the comcast email listed by CEK a few posts back and have not gotten a reply. Sadly my car sits at work waiting for the ultimate repair....I'll pay up to $100 shipped for anybody that has a spare. I just want to drive my new car already!

[Limbo00RT]

Ordered my mwrench bracket and received it the next day. Installation was quick and easy! Finding a shop willing to weld the bracket proved much tougher. Ed is a great person to deal with and still has the mwrench brackets in stock. He did mention that he doesn't know how much longer he will be doing this. Those of you on the fence about doing the repair shouldn't wait!

[danc]

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

Just wanted to throw my two cents in here...

We determined this past Saturday that my sons car's steering box bracket had broken, so I sent an email to Ed Sunday morning explaining that, if he was still making these, we really needed one before the end of the week if possible so we could fix Sonny's car before he goes back to school this weekend.

Long story short, Ed CALLED me Sunday afternoon, said he was away, but he'd make sure it shipped to me in time to make the repair, since we needed it to make the steering whole again.

Here it is Wednesday, three days later, and the part has been received and installed. Clear across the continent, and I didn't even pay for overnight service. My son said he installed it in less than 20 minutes.

In my book, not only does Ed respond, but he responds quickly (this is my third one, never had a problem communicating). The fact that he called me on Sunday is a testament to what a good guy he is. The only thing better than the M-Wrench E24/E28 steering fix is Mr. M-Wrench himself, Ed Raether.

Thank you, Ed.

[waynet1]

^^^
Couldn't agree more. I have much the same story/experience from about 6 years ago.

[Tulsa6]

Just a note on this: If you go to the trouble to drop the subframe and steering gear to have the dowel welded, do yourself a favor and replace the steering column u-joint with a genuine BMW u-joint 32 31 1 151 454. My steering gear subframe mount had failed on the car prior to me purchasing it - probably years prior - and there's a lot more labor involved to not replace it while everything is apart as I found out. Even with the relative low miles on this car, after cleaning up the old u-joint, is was obvious it was contributing to the play at the steering wheel.

Also, to anyone thinking about buying the dowel, at least set one these back for future use if you plan on keeping your car for awhile. When you need one and can't find one because they're NLA, they will be worth a lot more than the current asking price. This really goes for all the NLA parts that are being made or put into production by individuals that aren't really making a whole lot for their time.

[duggi]

Also, to anyone thinking about buying the dowel, at least set one these back for future use if you plan on keeping your car for awhile. When you need one and can't find one because they're NLA, they will be worth a lot more than the current asking price. This really goes for all the NLA parts that are being made or put into production by individuals that aren't really making a whole lot for their time.

I can't agree more. This fix is the easiest and most solid solution for this common e28 problem and if your car hasn't already been reinforced or repaired, I whole-heartedly recommend purchasing this part to have on hand. It's not a matter of if, but when.

[MShimon]

Hello fellow E28 enthusiasts,

I noticed that the great write-up is now not so great. This can be entirely attributed to Photobucket's new hosting requirements. Has anyone out there been able to save the great write-up with the accompanying photos and post that up for posterity? Thank you.

[George]

I'll see about moving the pictures to a different site.

[George]

I switched the image hosting on the original post to Imgur. Hopefully that fixes the issue.