Front Prop shaft failure - Discovery

**walker** · 21st July 2005, 11:35 PM

Hi all,
I am looking for anyone who has had a front prop shaft failure on their Seies 2 Discovery. If you could email me a letter stating aprox age and odometer reading, whether suspension was lifted or not and whether it was fixed under warranty it would be very much appreciated. Also the rego would help as well.

OK here is why.....

On the way back form our Simpson trip the front propshaft failed with the DC joint breaking. The prop shaft then dropped out, hitting the ground and also cracking the transmision and destroying the exhaust. This was all a pain and had to be towed back to Melbourne but the car has only done 17,000 km so I thought everything would be fixed under warranty and be ok.
Unfortunatley I had a lift kit installed (less than 2") but this was enough for LRA to void all warranty on the drivetrain.
Now I can understand them doing this but the Disco has done so low milage that I do not believe the lift caused the failure and so far I have found many other owners who have had exactly the same failure both with and without lifts.

I am not sure that any complaining will make any difference (customer support has already told me LRA will never change thier mind) but it can't hurt to have stats from other owners and at the moment the repair bill will be Mega $$$ and too much for me to be able to repair the car.

thanks in advance for any help,

**hiline** · 22nd July 2005, 12:23 AM

sorry to hear you bad news

keep trying and good luck :wink:

**disconut** · 22nd July 2005, 04:14 AM

Hi Walker,
My Series One Disco was lifted 2" from new and covered 140,000 klms without incident.

The Series II is however, different with its "double cardan joint"?. Check the Disco2.com web site for more details. I seem to remember several posts being there on this subject.
I did not alter my DII, but was warned to watch the joint very carefully.
I don't know if it can be engineered out to take a common uni joint, but it is a worry.

Side issue. Did they get rid of it in the DIII's? Would not be surprised if they did!

Trev.

PS Hit the wreckers yards, must be some bent Disco's down your way. That should save some bucks.

**incisor** · 22nd July 2005, 06:20 AM

some one left the submission below for the news section of the site in the last day or two, you may get some relevant info talking to them...

[quote]
RANGE-ROVE in Mitcham Victoria now have available 50mm lift kits with KingSprings and specially imported Bilstein B6 shockers to maintain a fantastic feel with the lift kit fitted.

lots of dramas were had with the lift kit and other shocks but these are great.

highly recommend to any of you looking to get lift and maintain the ride
[unquote]

**rick130** · 22nd July 2005, 06:58 AM

Have a search on the LRE board. It seems to be a common problem. They were popular at one stage in the UK for lifted Defenders until they started to fail. The Series III Stage I front shaft is a double cradan type, and seems to be the go for Defenders these days.

Theres a link to a LRE post here

**JohnE** · 22nd July 2005, 07:37 AM

That is really bad news, typical dealers.
However as you have started doing your homework, I think you may be on the right track.
If you still have the broken bits try to have them checked independently , there may have been fatigue in the metal and all that sort of stuff. A University that teaches engineering may be a place to go,(they might not charge you)
The post about a lift kit, warrants checking if the dealers are offering the kit, there can't be anything wrong with the modification if they offere it.
Did your lift kit get certifyed as being sound and have a warranty , that may be an avenue of recourse.
Is there anything in writting from L/R regarding modifications that would void any warranty.
If there is a history of those joints failing that could be your starting point.
I don't know about Victoria , you could try the Dept of Fair trading or equivalent.

best of luck

john

**River** · 22nd July 2005, 07:48 AM

You can also try The Australian Institute of Mech eng AIME, as they do independent work for this type of thing, and give very detailed reports and findings, they do cost but given the potential repair $$ may be worth it

**101RRS** · 22nd July 2005, 10:48 AM

If dealing with Landrover you need to get past the customer help desk people - I am sure they are told to say no to everything.

If you can get past them to the tech people you will find them more reasonable. The problem is getting past the customer help people - the last time I managed it by threats (public exposure of bad practice at the time the D3 had just been released). I am currently trying to deal with them on an issue and even though I have the name of a person in the tech area, I still haven't been able past the front desk mafia - next step is the threats and the release of my e-mails and landrovers responses to 4x4, 4wd Monthly etc. I am hopeful that commonsense will apply.

In your case you need something that will make landrover sit up and take notice - eg reports of similar breakdowns, tech reports, bad press etc

Gazz

**BMac** · 22nd July 2005, 02:40 PM

Who's job is to issue "Safety recalls"?

If you nearly lost control of the vehicle at speed, they probably don't want you talking to any government departments [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

Bruce.

**disconut** · 22nd July 2005, 03:20 PM

Originally posted by rick130
The Series III Stage I front shaft is a double cradan type, and seems to be the go for Defenders these days.

Just checked mine and its a good old universal joint. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

Trev.

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