Okay, this is the 1000+ question about birfields. I read through the old posts for an hour and now I just have a headache.
Here is the situation. I need to do the front and rear brakes on my 1996, including rotors. The truck currently has 133k miles, is street driven (was a soccer mom truck). I have some receipts, including a receipt for "front Axle seals replaced" from a dealer at 90k miles for a cost of $600. I currently see no seeping from the knuckles or contamination of the diff fluid.
I do not have the time to do a birfield replacement myself. If I do it, I will have to pay my mechanic (a very competent BMW mechanic that is also a great fabricator and race car builder), so it would be an estimated 8 hours of labor or so. Finally the truck has 32" tires a OME low lift (1") and does not see off roading due to lack of time.
The big question. Do I really need to worry about the birfields being redone right now since most of the problems are form the axle seals? Can I push these further if I watch them? I really am not in a position to fork out the extra $1000 parts and labor right now, but can if I have to. What about repacking the rear bearings? How long does it take, can I/ do I need to when I replace the rear rotors? Is there anything essential to do when replacing the front rotors?
Thanks
Cary
Here is the situation. I need to do the front and rear brakes on my 1996, including rotors. The truck currently has 133k miles, is street driven (was a soccer mom truck). I have some receipts, including a receipt for "front Axle seals replaced" from a dealer at 90k miles for a cost of $600. I currently see no seeping from the knuckles or contamination of the diff fluid.
I do not have the time to do a birfield replacement myself. If I do it, I will have to pay my mechanic (a very competent BMW mechanic that is also a great fabricator and race car builder), so it would be an estimated 8 hours of labor or so. Finally the truck has 32" tires a OME low lift (1") and does not see off roading due to lack of time.
The big question. Do I really need to worry about the birfields being redone right now since most of the problems are form the axle seals? Can I push these further if I watch them? I really am not in a position to fork out the extra $1000 parts and labor right now, but can if I have to. What about repacking the rear bearings? How long does it take, can I/ do I need to when I replace the rear rotors? Is there anything essential to do when replacing the front rotors?
Thanks
Cary