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!
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!
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.
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.
Tulsa6 wrote: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.
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 wrote:I switched the image hosting on the original post to Imgur. Hopefully that fixes the issue.
Thanks for taking care of that -- it did fix it.
Now if I could only find the reinforcement kit I bought so many years ago. The subframe is out for an engine swap, but I can't find the Mwrench kit in all my stuff!
I've completed no less than 50 tasks on my newly acquired 1988 535is. The $55 spent for this product is at the top of my list in value and satisfaction. Quick to reply and quick to ship. What a difference it made! HIGHLY Recommend Ed and this solution for our beloved e28's.
For those wondering, you do not Need to weld the top of the dowel. You can install it with the subframe in the car. Just smack it through the bottom and weld the bottom side only. Welding the top is just overkill, but if you have the subframe out already then go for it.
