E60 Motorsport seat thigh support bolster repair

[zulu64 12]

Here is one for E60 owners. Mine has the full adjustable Motorsport seats with the electrically operated front thigh support bolsters . A common problem is for the little plastic gear in the actuator motor to fall to pieces (Why they ever put in a plastic gear is beyond me !!!) when it breaks you cannot adjust the bolster section of the seat. BMW will charge about $ 550.00 plus gst for a new motor but if you are mechanically inclined you can fix it for $ 45.00 and a couple of hours of your time. I did this last week after the passenger seat front bolster gave up while the wife was adjusting it . FYI if you are going to adjust this bolster lift your legs off it first to take weight off it as this may save the stress on the silly plastic gear.

I bought a upgraded gear off ebay  , opened the motor replaced the gear and hey presto all working again.

Here are the 2 links I followed to do the repair .The first link is for the upgraded gear which is a full metal whole unit where the original is a plastic gear on metal shaft. Second link describes the process to remove the actuator assembly without having to remove the seat .

https://vanos-bmw.com/gear-repair-servo-front-seat-thigh-support-bmw-52107120189-52107068045-52100309476

 

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e60-m5-e61-m5-touring-discussion/166574-thigh-support-actuator-3.html

Best of luck with it . Who says you cant do DIY on an E60 !!!

 

Edited August 16, 2016 by zulu64
add wording

[scottr 11]

Glad to see ebay worked out for you, I've been checking out this DIY as I need to do this for my drivers side seat.

Dunno why they ever thought a plastic gear was a good idea...

 

[zulu64 12]

Took 2 weeks to arrive  , fitted perfectly .

If you got the time and the patience its worth the effort to do it and save a heap of $$$

 

Edited August 23, 2016 by zulu64
spelling

[PROCESS 0]

Hey there - and hello from sunny California to all you New Zealanders! I love NZ, can't wait to come back..

Like many of you, I was looking for a video that walked through the steps to replace the gear. There are some tricky maneuvers, especially when it comes to removing the actuator from the seat frame. I ended up with a free day and created a video that explains the whole repair. The camera's a little shaky, but I think it will be helpful!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnoW2jGK58M

Let me know if this helped!