Thread: D2 Front Tailshaft

The greasable uni will be an off the shelf part from most drive shaft shops. the non greasable are as rule stronger than the greasable as they have no hole for the grease movement drilled inside.

glen

They are standard land rover universal joints.
I disagree with the previous post.
The benefits off being able to re-grease the universal joints far out way the disadvantages.
The only disadvantage I could think of is that you need to put some grease in it, which only make it last longer.
I think the disco 2 air-con drains directly onto the joint.
The other thing why do people call it a front tail shaft?
Tail usually means after or follow, the are drive shafts.

Originally Posted by Gavo

They are standard land rover universal joints.
I disagree with the previous post.
The benefits off being able to re-grease the universal joints far out way the disadvantages.
The only disadvantage I could think of is that you need to put some grease in it, which only make it last longer.
I think the disco 2 air-con drains directly onto the joint.
The other thing why do people call it a front tail shaft?
Tail usually means after or follow, the are drive shafts.

Sorry I agree with discoute the standard would be stronger than a greasable, besides how much damage could an a/c drain do to a uni joint? I don't know about yours but it's just water coming out of mine

Originally Posted by Gavo

The other thing why do people call it a front tail shaft?
Tail usually means after or follow, the are drive shafts.

I refer to the shafts which run from the transfer case to either axle assembly as a propshaft, either front or rear as required. The shafts which run inside the axle housings out to the hubs I refer to as driveshafts, either left or right as applicable. This saves a lot of confusion.

I would highly recommend replacement with greasable unis, having seen the damage caused by failure of the double cardan joint. IMO, non greasable uni joints are just a waste of time.

I was advised to upgrade to greasable uni's on my D2 when fitting stronger axles and CV's etc - plus one of my standard ones had worn out. Made sense to me at the time but interested to hear that some disagree.

Propshaft/tailshaft - same thing irrespective of if its at the front or rear. Its just the part name. Driveshaft or halfshaft - whatever. If you call it a tailshaft then there is no confusion, likewise if you use the term halfshaft. Driveshaft is just a universal term.

The greasables may be weaker from an outright strength, but they dont ususally break. The shafts fail just about all of the time in most non comped or mumma tyred trucks because the bearings in them fail - which is why the greasables are more durable. Spicer do a bigger Landcruiser sized DC joint now for the Discovery which should be stonger again. It'll cost about $1k though. They've manufactured a new flange that changes from the smaller rover DC PCD to the larger Landcruiser DC joint. The part is 800-R-2540 as far as I know.

Why not fit a different front transfer case drive flange and a standard prop shaft and do away with cardan joint altogether my discovery one never had a cardan joint.

The blokes at M.R. Automotive recommend fitting grease able unijoint to D2 front shafts so go argue with them, if you don't believe me about the a/c drain contributing to early the front shaft failure.

A guy in our club actually retains the standard tail shafts on his rangie so he purposly has a weak point there. Theory obviously being if it breaks there he can simply fit another. He carries a spare with him and he has broken one recently on a trip - 15 mins and back on the road.

Makes sense really if you are willing to carry a spare or at least consider where your weakest point is and cater for it. Different story mind you if it goes when on the highway or if you are flogging the guts out of it as I have heard they will make a mess if left to flail about underneath.