Thread: Front drive shaft alignment.

so, how did this turn out??? I've just replaced all my uni joints (one of mine seized) and ever since its had a vibration between 50-60km/h and 100+km/h. I've had the front shaft off it seems like a million times... Why oh why land rover did you not specify these details in the rave manual??? any one have some pics of an un touched unit?

I'm finally getting around to replacing all the unis this week.
I did the front one a couple of months back, as it had a lot of play and was urgent.
I still have a slight vibration over 70kmh, which does get a bit worse approaching 100kmh.
So as a process of elimination, I have put new tyres all round, as they were all on the way out, as well as balancing all wheels.
While that did improve things, it still vibrates as described.
So the next step, replace all the unis and see what that does.
I'll be doing that job on Wed or Thurs this week, will post my findings then.

so I crawled under my hateful piece of ... and found that one of my new uni joints is shagged... ARGH!!! gotta replace it again. Can any one tell me when looking at the front shaft with the transfer case end closest to your face and the diff end furthest away, should the transfer case flange be clock wise or anti clockwise in comparison to the diff end?

Originally Posted by hhiemstra

so I crawled under my hateful piece of ... and found that one of my new uni joints is shagged... ARGH!!! gotta replace it again. Can any one tell me when looking at the front shaft with the transfer case end closest to your face and the diff end furthest away, should the transfer case flange be clock wise or anti clockwise in comparison to the diff end?

uhmm... not sure what you're asking...

hhiemstra, is it the very front uni that has been damaged?
I recently did my front one, which was chewed out, only to find the vibration returned shortly after replacing it.
When I had a close look, my new uni joint was fine, but I had not seated the circlips on the joint in quite enough, so after driving for a bit, it was able to work itself a bit loose again.
I took it apart again and made sure the sirclips were well and truly seated in the grooves properly.
It seems to be fine now, but I will be replacing all my unis for good measure in the next day or two.
I have read a dodgy uni joint can effect the uni joint on the other end of the shaft due to all the vibration, so I'd be looking at replacing at least the two on the affected shaft if you are experiencing problems.
As far as shaft alignment goes, to the best of my knowledge it only goes on one way, the reason you mark the shaft on disassembly is to make it easy to locate the shaft when refitting.
I lost the marks on mine and found I could only slide the shaft partly on before it started to jam, so I carefully rotated the shaft until it slid straight on with no resistance.
Probably a much easier job when it's up on a hoist, as opposed to on your back under the car...they are the times I wish I had a hoist!

my tc one is shagged, if i recall correctly thats the one that seized originally... now I think I need to replace the tc output bearing...

the shafts will go together any way, the splines are equally spaced, altho there is one missing on the female side, but that doesnt stop them being mated incorrectly... just needs more encouraging...

Hoges - what I mean is, say you have the front drive shaft out, standing up next to you, transfer cas uj in hand, diff uj on the ground between yr feet... which way is the uj in yr hand turned compared to the uj between yr feet?

Originally Posted by hhiemstra

Hoges - what I mean is, say you have the front drive shaft out, standing up next to you, transfer cas uj in hand, diff uj on the ground between yr feet... which way is the uj in yr hand turned compared to the uj between yr feet?

ah ha! see post #2 of this thread
cheers