Front Propshaft Wear

[east high]

I noticed while I was under my rig that the front propshaft has some serious slop in what I'm calling the elbow of the shaft. The U-joints feel solid, but there is easily a half inch of side to side play where the two ends fit together.

Can these be rebuilt, or is it better to replace with a new one?

[Moose]

When I fitted my Salisbury axle I had a driveline shop shorten the prop shaft. While they were at it, they replaced the slip joint, balanced the shaft and replaced both U-joints. All for the bargain basement price of $150 which was much cheaper then new.

Brett

[SafeAirOne]

Well, just remove the front propshaft and take it down to your local driveline shop. They'll tell you exactly how much it'll cost, plus, you can feel just how much less vibration you have with the wobbly shaft removed (I really noticed a difference in mine). Then compare the price given with the roughtly $160 cost of a new shaft...

[Tim Smith]

A half inch is way too much slop. As suggested, pull the shaft and inspect it.

If you separate the two half's, be sure to take note of the alignment arrows at the slip joint. They can be difficult to identify due to dirt and rust. If you get that wrong on reassembly, you'll likely get a new shudder out of the front end.

[LR Max]

Take it off the truck and take it to a driveshaft shop. They'll be able to rebuild it for a fraction of a new one.

[east high]

Thanks guys. It'll come out when I do the brakes in the next week or two. It never occurred to me that the shudder I've been dealing would come from a worn propshaft. But then again I didn't know the shaft was worn, so I just assumed it was the nature of the beast.

[yorker]

do you use front free wheel hubs?

[east high]

Erm.. yeah? Now that I've had my coffee I recon the prop wouldn't be spinning with the hubs turned out and the transfer case in 4x2.

Meh, either way the shaft needs rebuilding. Perhaps the shudder is coming from my horribly overdue brake job?

do you use front free wheel hubs?

[yorker]

I have seen a lof of front drive shaft slip joints worn out over the years on vehicles with free wheel hubs (not just land Rovers) they shaft often seems to settle in the same position when the hubs are disengaged and the up and down cycling of the front suspension wears the slip joints- at least in one axis.