not sure

[wooly]

hi all
just a quick question on the front drive shaft not having a greese nipple. found out the hard way on a trip to the top of WA just a few weeks ago.

was driving fine, when, what sounded like a tyer had blown, pulled over to check what was going on. found the pool of red blood on the ground :o
a huge hole in the gear box no drive shaft, not happy.

would some one tell me why the front drive shaft doesn't come with a grease nipple, and has this happened to any one else.

no stress i still love my disco to bits.

[McDisco]

Wooly

Unfortunately it has happened to lots of people...just do a search and you see lots of tales of woe! I managed to catch mine (both times) before it went seriously so that nothing else was broken.

I replaced mine with a greasable unit when the joint was rebuilt. Apparently its not that difficult or costly to do. As to why it isnt greasable...well...that another Land Rover mystery or quirk. Land Rover in its wisdom thought a "sealed for life" unit was tough enough...:( Perhaps they just cant hack Australian conditions...or how we drive em?

Angus

[Slunnie]

I think it was Spicer or whoever that thought the sealed for life unis was hte next greatest automotive invention and LR believed it. :mad:

I guess life is defined as "while it still works properly"

[dmdigital]

Join the club.

See the discussion on mine here: http://www.aulro.com/afvb/general-chat/59668-warning-contains-violent-images-underside-disco.html

Not a nice noise is it :(

[LandyAndy]

Did you hear a chirping sound,much like crickets before disaster struck???? I did,and knew what to check,the double cardogan was too hot to touch and was less than half an hour into a trip home.
Droped the shaft,locked the CDL and drove into Albany to fix it.
Andrew

[Poida4x4]

Is this only an issue with D2's? Is it worth taking preventative measures and if so, what?

Ta.

[JDNSW]

There has been a move by manufacturers of all types of motor vehicles to do away with regular greasing of everything possible - there would be very few "consumer" vehicles today that have any grease nipples.

With the first Landrover, Rover was well in the forefront of this move in 1948, with the only grease nipples on the prop shafts and the pedal shafts. Compare this to the contemporary Jeep, the nearest match, with in addition to those, grease nipples on all the steering joints plus a dozen shackles.

But, particularly in severe service, such as four wheel drives, universal joints have been the last to go - and stories such as yours suggest it is not a very good idea to do away with them. I'm not too sure why universal joints in particular are the standout - perhaps because the results of lubrication failure can be so disastrous.

John

[Kandy]

Is this only an issue with D2's? Is it worth taking preventative measures and if so, what?

Ta.

On advice mine was replaced at a regular service with a heavy duty Defender part and fully greasable -- Im slowly replacing all the "clips" on the coolant hoses with s/steel worm screw hose clamps and will probably replace various hoses with silicon. Keeping alert for anything else!!! (as I would for any vehicle).

[DaveF]

Did you hear a chirping sound,much like crickets before disaster struck???? I did,and knew what to check,the double cardogan was too hot to touch and was less than half an hour into a trip home.
Droped the shaft,locked the CDL and drove into Albany to fix it.
Andrew

Yep pretty well much the same for me recently. See post on Font Drive Shaft Problems in this sub section. Also Front Shaft goes BANG. Apparently if you have lifted your D2 there is more chance of this happening due to the increase in angles. This is one of a few good reasons to have your CDL actuated. At least if you catch the shaft before the BANG you can remove it and still drive home.

Cheers
DaveF

[Urban Panzer]

This particular problem was very interesting to me, I have seen / read about this happeneing lots in the US, and now here to, yet I dont know of one that has let go in the UK, very strange tbh, how ever to eliminate the risk, I recently rebuilt both my shafts with heavy duty greasable UJ's to "hopefully" combat this happening.

[tempestv8]

Is this only an issue with D2's? Is it worth taking preventative measures and if so, what?

Ta.

New Defenders with the Puma engine will also have this problem as Land Rover have introduced the Double Cardan joint onto their front propshafts.

:mad:

[spudboy]

I'm gonna have to disagree with TempestV8 and say that my 110 Puma doesn't have a double cardan joint on any of the propshafts! Was a bit surprised, so I've just been out and crawled under to take a look.

Mine is an 07, so perhaps different on the 08's?