Trunk/boot mechanism

Post in this forum for topics relating to the exterior. This includes body, windows, and accessories

Moderators: GRNSHRK, ron, bfons

Post Reply
danstevens

Trunk/boot mechanism

Post by danstevens »

Can anyone post some pictures of the horror that is the torsion bar mechanism that keeps the boot lid up? Mine has fallen apart and I cannot work out how to put it back together - if anyone has some pictures of the way it should be, I would be incredibly grateful.
The piece of 4x2 in the boot is beginning to annoy me.
Cheers
Dan
83 635 CSi
GWL

Re: Trunk/boot mechanism

Post by GWL »

danstevens wrote:Can anyone post some pictures of the horror that is the torsion bar mechanism that keeps the boot lid up? Mine has fallen apart and I cannot work out how to put it back together - if anyone has some pictures of the way it should be, I would be incredibly grateful.
The piece of 4x2 in the boot is beginning to annoy me.
Cheers
Dan
83 635 CSi
Try this http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=41&fg=60 It is hard to explain, but the long straight end hooks into the hook like catch on the hinge, while the U shaped end is mounted in a hole in the assembly with the bottom of the U hooked into a catch on the moving section of the hinge. The little separators 6 & 7 keep the two torsion bars apart because they cross and would rub together without these separators.
Chris Wright

Post by Chris Wright »

For some reason, over time, the hinge stops at point "A" & "B" open up and allow the trunk lid to open too far*. At that point the lever at point "C" continues to travel rearward and allows the torsion bar to continue rotating upward "over center" and either jams the lid open or the torsion bar pops off. You can see the gap at "B", and "A" is a golf tee to stop the lid from opening any farther. (Hey! the golf bag was sitting right there! I call it resourceful, not lazy!) :roll:

To put the springs back, first prop the lid up. Then put the torsion bar loop into the lever at "C" and position the bar into brackets "F", then "E" and then rotate the far end around to slot "D", (or the next one if you need it for the trunk spoiler). I have a huge, over grown pair of 17" channel lock or water pump pliers the I can get both hands on to do this.

*(I just looked at the RealOEM link GWL posted, I wonder where Item 10, "Blind Plug" goes? Could it be a bump stop that goes where I put the golf tee? Hmm .....??)

(Thanks to GWL and MrE for re-posting the photos that were lost!) =D> 8)

<img src="http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t120 ... nge-01.jpg">

<img src="http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t120 ... nge-02.jpg">

S20SS6.4
Last edited by Chris Wright on Sat Jun 07, 2014 2:51 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Finally6

Post by Finally6 »

Chris' description and pictures are accurate, but if you can get a buddy to help you, there will be less cursing, bruising, and otherwise frustration, ask me how I know... :roll:
alpinacsi

Post by alpinacsi »

The description that Chris gave is very accurate and shows how the problem can be helped but the real problem is that the pivot area on the trunk hinge is worn out. This allows additional movement and is why add the golf tee works. I have glued a piece of hard rubber in place of the tee and that would work until the hinge got too bad.
GWL

Post by GWL »

A great explanation Chris. This happened to me years ago while showing off my 80 Euro in a parking lot. Very frustrating when you don't know why your trunk lid will not close :oops: . I solved the problem eventually by cutting small sections of neoprene fuel line and gluing them in where Chris used golf tees. Because of their round hollow section, they act as both bump stop and cushion. I think that this type of modification (Golf Tee or Fuel Line) is a good preventative maintenance project, because the trunk will lock open when you are least able to fix it easily.
danstevens

Thank you!

Post by danstevens »

I had completely forgotten that I posted this request - I'm just about to tackle the problem again, searched the site and found this exceptional reply. Thank you for the pictures - they should be included in every Haynes and Bentley manual for the car.
Much appreciated. Now I'm going to tackle the springs...
Dan
User avatar
hoadie
Posts: 1775
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:56 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by hoadie »

Hi guys, I've run into a problem with my trunk / boot lid today. Some cretin decided to let a bunch of cretins wash his car and they enthusiastically opened the lid and now it won't close. I'm hoping someone has the pics being referred to earlier in this thread?
GWL

Post by GWL »

hoadie wrote:Hi guys, I've run into a problem with my trunk / boot lid today. Some cretin decided to let a bunch of cretins wash his car and they enthusiastically opened the lid and now it won't close. I'm hoping someone has the pics being referred to earlier in this thread?
PM Sent
Chris Wright

Post by Chris Wright »

GWL wrote:
hoadie wrote:Hi guys, I've run into a problem with my trunk / boot lid today. Some cretin decided to let a bunch of cretins wash his car and they enthusiastically opened the lid and now it won't close. I'm hoping someone has the pics being referred to earlier in this thread?
PM Sent
Hey, George, if you still have a copy of the photo I posted above, please re-post it here. I had a the hard drive crash and I lost all of my files. #-o
GWL

Post by GWL »

Chris Wright wrote:
GWL wrote:
hoadie wrote:Hi guys, I've run into a problem with my trunk / boot lid today. Some cretin decided to let a bunch of cretins wash his car and they enthusiastically opened the lid and now it won't close. I'm hoping someone has the pics being referred to earlier in this thread?
PM Sent
Hey, George, if you still have a copy of the photo I posted above, please re-post it here. I had a the hard drive crash and I lost all of my files. #-o
I made a PDF of the article so here is what I have.
Attachments
BMW 6 Series Trunk Lid Hinge Adjustment.pdf
(178.78 KiB) Downloaded 976 times
User avatar
hoadie
Posts: 1775
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:56 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by hoadie »

Really appreciate your help George and Chris. It looks like in my case the hinge is physically damaged. It has always been a bit stiff when fully open, sort of like it's locked into place. I would always have to give it a bit of a pull to get it closed, so I think it's actually had something wrong with it for years.

The parts marked "A" & "B" in my car are bent and even with a rubber spacer on the arm to limit it's movement, swiftly opening the boot causes the spring and lever "C" to pop out of position and jam up. It took 3 hrs for us to conclude that we couldn't fix the physical damage so we gave up.

The diagrams really were a great help though, so thanks again.
User avatar
MrE
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 1794
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:37 pm
Location: Capital City, Australia

Post by MrE »

Chris Wright wrote:For some reason, over time, the hinge stops at point "A" & "B" open up and allow the trunk lid to open too far*. At that point the lever at point "C" continues to travel rearward and allows the torsion bar to continue rotating upward "over center" and either jams the lid open or the torsion bar pops off. You can see the gap at "B", and "A" is a golf tee to stop the lid from opening any farther. (Hey! the golf bag was sitting right there! I call it resourceful, not lazy!) :roll:

To put the springs back, first prop the lid up. Then put the torsion bar loop into the lever at "C" and position the bar into brackets "F", then "E" and then rotate the far end around to slot "D", (or the next one if you need it for the trunk spoiler). I have a huge, over grown pair of 17" channel lock or water pump pliers the I can get both hands on to do this.

*(I just looked at the RealOEM link GWL posted, I wonder where Item 10, "Blind Plug" goes? Could it be a bump stop that goes where I put the golf tee? Hmm .....??)
Image

Image
brickwhite
Posts: 797
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:29 pm
Location: Broomfield, CO

Post by brickwhite »

That's Awesome!!! Thanks!
ldsbeaker
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 5:49 pm
Location: Slicktop City, AZ

Post by ldsbeaker »

You guys never cease to amaze me.
I've worked on this a couple times on my '77, but have been defeated each time.
Can't wait to get home and FINALLY fix this for real.

Thanks again.
Adam
1977 630CSi - stock / 1983 635CSi - v12 6spd project / 1989 635 CSi - OEM+
Slicktop City!
User avatar
Brucey
6 Series Guru
6 Series Guru
Posts: 10077
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 7:17 am
Location: Cambridge, UK

Post by Brucey »

Re reassembly; popping the springs in at 'D' (the final step) takes some effort; you can get by with an improvised tool but there is a special BMW tool for this job. I've made a special tool for this job that is better again than the BMW tools because it does not mar the paint. It becomes a one-finger job, too.

Re wear/damage. The usual problem is that wear in the pivots causes the spring/linkage to go overcentre at 'C'. It is an excellent idea to regrease the pivots on a regular basis. However if your pivots are worn there are two solutions;

1) pack out the hinge stop at 'B' so that the mechanism doesn't go overcentre.

2) add an improved stop for the spring near 'C' so that the mechanism can't go overcentre. You will see that there is a small tab that will interfere with the spring near C if it goes too far; I have a solution that uses a couple of washers and a bolt so that this works as a reliable stop.

more on this topic here;

viewtopic.php?t=19379&postdays=0&postor ... l&start=15

but right now I can't see the pictures..... :-k

cheers
~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
bpoliakoff
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 3312
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:28 pm
Location: scottsdale, arizona
Contact:

Post by bpoliakoff »

Brucey made a neat tool for doing this. Maybe he can post a picture. If not I bought one from him and can do it.
81 Euro 635 M90 with motronic. Currently under a complete nut and bolt restoration. Pictures at
flickr.com/photos/bertsphotos.
Chris Wright

Post by Chris Wright »

To put the spring back in place, I just bought a cheap import pair of those huge, over-sized water-pump pliers (Channel-Lock pliers). You know, the 18" ones and I can get a good grip on the end of the spring and have the leverage to man-handle the spring into place if I use two hands. I tried regular Channel-Locks, but they just didn't have enough leverage.

I didn't spend a lot of money on them and they sit in the back of the tool box unneeded until suddenly it seems like nothing else will work. :mrgreen:
JM635
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 2:52 pm
Location: Strafford,NH

Post by JM635 »

I just had a set of hinges painted and will be installing soon.
Any suggestions for lubricant ???
Thanks Judd
Post Reply