Its good to see some people are interested in this.
Its been done before and you can the find the articles on the Hartage X3 and X5 here are a couple of links to the articles.
http://www.zercustoms.com/news/Hartg...er-BMW-X3.html
https://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-ne...3-ar49425.html
Some interesting info comes up in the various write ups for this vehicle. Here are some points.
- Increased ride height from 20cm to 23cm
- 10mm spacers installed on the front suspension
- 255/55 R 18 All terrain tyres (29 inch)
- HARTGE´s “CLASSIC 2“ light alloy rims (Pn37-902-386) 8.5x18 ET40
- The necessary ground clearance of 23 cm is provided by longer spring/damper units.
- It is also capable of climbing slopes up to 48 degrees and is 'certified' to wade through waters of 50cm and has an axle articulation index of 63 percent.
- The axle drive ratio has been shortened
- Automatic differential locks have been added at the front and rear
- Stainless steel underbody covers for the engine, gearbox, transmission shafts and exhaust system have been added.
After a lot of research,
I cannot find a longer strut or spring to fit the E83.
There is no automatic locking diff to fit any BMW available on the market. Its possible Hartage used a Helical or clutch type LSD that fits that housing.
It does make sense that they would go to a shorter axle ratio running the larger tyres.
The E83 and E53 have the same front diff (168mm clamshell type)if you are considering changing ratios.
The E83 primarily runs a 188mm rear diff. The 3.0SD version runs a 210mm rear diff.
Here is a link to a video posted by Hartage
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...850A20FFDC886B
And another link to an X3 with a 3 inch lift. Unfortunately not too much info was shared by this guy on what was used to get the lift. One interesting thing is the rear edge of the side steps was trimmed to allow tyre clearance for those huge tyres.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqrCg-4a1IQ
I hope to see some nicely set up X3's soon