Driveshaft vibration damper
 

I am about to drop my rear subframe to replace rear suspension and diff bushings.
While changing the O2 sensors, I noticed that my driveshaft vibration damper is loose and looks like the rubber has separated.
Do I need to replace this?
They are $150 from Bavarian.

I know back when pnosker was active that he had removed his driveshaft vibration damper and said he didn't notice any negatives. He had a DASC M44 that was fairly built. If it were me, I'd take it off and see if there is any noticeable difference.

Sounds good.
Don't know why BMW put a harmonic damper on the drive shaft when it already used a dual mass flywheel for vibration damper.

I will take it off and will go to trash.
Thanks.

mine fell a part...and i can tell you that without it, I encountered various noises and vibrations in the shifter and driveshaft. In addition, on multiple occasions, I was not able take my shifter out of gear while moving. When I pulled my tranny fluid, more metal flakes came out...even though I did the fluids 1k mile ago.

So I can just remove the driveshaft vibration damper by unbolt-ing the shaft from the tranny? Or is it more complicated?

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...5f&oe=5BC35E4A

When I did my swap I reused the ti driveshaft but had to remove the damper. Here's the post, about halfway down.
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showpost....3&postcount=15

Drive shaft has to be disconnected from the transmission.

Definitely get rid of it at least in the interim, driving with that damper loose will cause all kinds of imbalance on the transmission output flange.

Hmmm tempted to just ditch the part and save myself $150, if people are reporting nothing bad

You had to hammer the studs out from the shaft in order to remove the thing?

Yes, a small sledge made it quick to knock them out. You can disconnect the driveshaft from the trans and angle it towards the ground under the car to do it without removing the entire driveshaft.