[greddy91]

First post here folks - Learning alot about my new platform, so thank you all for your years of info already collected to feed from.

I bought the e70 a week ago today. I drove home from Dallas with no issues and actually had a stellar drive. Really love the whole "100mph feels like 60mph" thing.

I ran some seafoam through the motor on Tuesday night and went out for some spirited driving to knock the carbon deposits out. I'd made several WOT pulls and blown out a majority of the magic carbon smoke. Went to make my turn for home and left hard from a stop sign. 1st gear to 2nd gear shift and then the noises hit that made me think I certainly shelled the bottom end of the motor.

I pulled over and found the below scenario...

Next up I got it towed home, because it didn't dawn on me that I could yank the rear portion of the shaft out by hand (hold the euphemisms and applause for later.) I backed the M in, and went on a forum hunt for how to swap the shaft myself. I found the recall info that doesn't apply to 2010 (WTF is that about?) and a few more posts, but nothing substantive to help.

I then order a replacement shaft off of eBay that looks like a WWII surplus shaft, but appears to be the same overall length. That should have gotten me going, but the shaft coming out as three pieces was the easy part.

I simply cannot figure out how to get enough clearance to get the new shaft in place. The front subframe bulk prevents me from maneuvering the 4 bolt side of the shaft into place while the thread side is inserted and vice versa.

Have any of you on the M front done this job to be able to describe for me what I have to do to get my shaft inserted. (Door open for euphemisms purposely here.) Thanks all and look forward to seeing fellow M rollers on the streets.