Thread: Front prop shaft gone again

Originally Posted by rick130

Seriously ? What broke ?

The uni's are just 1310 Spicer, but the centreing bearing and DC is a lot stronger than stock.

The yoke broke LOL.

Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares

The yoke broke LOL.

Thats not a Tom Woods shaft issue!

I've never seen that on a DC, but have with the single uni at the diff end with a Salisbury. iirc a solution is Dana setup.

I'd like to weigh in here if I may. I've experienced these exact same issues, I did so for a long time, my advice would be to anyone who is lifting a D2 to also purchase an adjustable panhard rod.

I was lucky enough to pick up a Les Richmond front prop shaft from Jolly's which helped solve my issue as it has larger uni's too like a Tom woods shaft. However i still fitted an adjustable panhard rod, APT off road made me a special one for my D2a as the D2 one was too long.

I'm confident the majority of the issues related to front prop shaft uni wear come from not fitting an adjustable panhard rod to line the front wheels with the back (or to put them back where they are designed to be). The back has a Watts link setup and therefore will not shift the axle sideways when lifted. Measure the difference between the front strut tower and wheel on each side, it will give you a very good idea how far out it is.

After fitting a suspension lift, when driving down the highway at 100km/h the shaft is working on 2 planes in it's natural state. Vertical (like standard) and horizontal as the axle has shifted sideways due to the change of geometry from the lift. (not so standard)

While the uni joints and prop shaft are designed to operate on multiple planes at once, as standard fitment the shaft doesn't have to on a flat bit of road at high speed. I believe the extra plane of operation at high speed accelerates the wear rate as it will generate more heat and potentially overheat the grease. Better maintenance with greaseable uni's and larger uni's will manage/dissipate the heat better, however it is not solving the route cause of the problem.

Mario may be able to source you an adjustable panhard rod, he is also wise enough to know that the D2 and D2a panhard rods are different.

My advice is to replace the uni's and centre bearing in the front prop shaft but also fit an adjustable panhard rod and have the front wheels aligned to the rear wheels, thus shifting the diff back to the original position it was designed to operate.

That is my two cents, for whatever it is worth.

So have got new parts to fix joint, but just wondering with driving Disco with out front prop shaft ,am i doing any damage to any thing else, i mostly just do highway driving and some times pull my caravan, why i ask is with not driving front wheels will i be saving on fuel

Originally Posted by Jazzman

I'd like to weigh in here if I may. I've experienced these exact same issues, I did so for a long time, my advice would be to anyone who is lifting a D2 to also purchase an adjustable panhard rod.

That is my two cents, for whatever it is worth.

the amount the axle shifts with a 2 inch lift is miniscule.. like 5mm maybe? I doubt that this shift would be enough to throw the front universal joint geometry enough to accelrate wear. You have to remember that the relative distance/geometry between the axle and transmission is always moving around when driving because of the rubber mounts etc.. slight changes of front u-joint geometry is a constant.

My opinion is that for a two inch lift, a new panhard rod is not needed. Whats more imprtant is that OP spends some money on a new or rebuilt shaft with greaseable u-joints/centering ball.

Mine may have gone a fraction over 2 inch but the result was the spring hitting the chassis under full articulation so an adjustable rod became an essential item and having a heavy duty solid one was a good thing also. The stocker is very thin walled.

Cheers