Front drive shafts question

Hi All,

So having a problem with a vibration when accellerating my 2003 td4 m47 freelander 1 .
recently 2 weeks ago changed the left front drive shaft gearbox oil seal and anti roll bar link ( not sure if related )
when i move off from standing still i sometimes get a weird kind of twang noise coming from front left wheel area
only noticed the vibration in the last few days.

So I am looking at buying a new drive shaft maybe and i actually have a driveshaft that was given to me by a guy who saw me parked at his neighbours and said he previously owned a freelander and do i want a few bits and the drive shaft was one of the bits .

Now iv'e noticed when searching for driveshafts for my model that some have a round end and some have a sort of hexagonal end . the one on my vehicle has a hexagonal end like this https://www.jgs4x4.co.uk/freelander-1-td4-front-left-driveshaft-with-cv-joints/

So my question is : why are the driveshafts for the same vehicle shaped differently and if they are interchangeable then maybe i can use the one i was given ?

I may stand corrected, but the hex ones are genuine LR (OEM ?) while the rounded ones are aftermarket and probably won't last very long and likely not fit for purpose out of the box.

Ah right thanks for that . Are you always up this early?

ponythegringo said:

Ah right thanks for that . Are you always up this early?

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lol, usually - at least during the week.

fair play to ye . I might have to fit this one as i am a bit broke right now . would it last a year at least?

I dunno. All I go by is what's said on here. I think some have advised to go for recon genuine rayher than aftermarket new.

Im sure some aftermarket must work for a bit.

Make sure you get one with the correct ABS ring.

Thanks for the info

Driveshafts with a reluctance ring can have the ring drifted off if you have the later magnetic wheel bearing arrangement.

I have to admit that I don't know what an abs ring is or a reluctance ing for that matter off to google to find out

Ok so on my model is the abs ring on the driveshaft or on the wheel hub ~?

Answer: wheel hub as it is a later magnetic model sensor so won't work with a reluctance ring on the drive shaft.

Sigh
Driveshafts I pis s about for 3 years with driveshafts and my opinion is the cheap they are the more hassle they bring
Best bite the bit and buy decent ones completely different driver on good shafts

So today I drove slowly to my mechanic friend as he was free for the day and cut a long story short a bearing in the gearbox end of the left front driveshaft had split and all the wee bits were out all over the place.
I mentioned all your opinions on aftermarket parts so my mate decided to have a look inside it at the bearings to asess the quality and said that the wrong cv grease had been used. we removed the old grease and put poper stuff in before installing it, maybe that's why they don't last long .

Anyway it's gone in now and it lasted a day at least, I'll let you know how it goes

Cheers for the help guys

ponythegringo said:

So today I drove slowly to my mechanic friend as he was free for the day and cut a long story short a bearing in the gearbox end of the left front driveshaft had split and all the wee bits were out all over the place.
I mentioned all your opinions on aftermarket parts so my mate decided to have a look inside it at the bearings to asess the quality and said that the wrong cv grease had been used. we removed the old grease and put poper stuff in before installing it, maybe that's why they don't last long .

Anyway it's gone in now and it lasted a day at least, I'll let you know how it goes

Cheers for the help guys

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The drive shaft support bearing in the IRD is known to fail.

You were lucky as it is not uncommon for them to then jam which shatters the IRD casing.

That's an expensive bill as you have no exchange on a reconditioned IRD.

Good on you for spotting a problem and taking care till you're mechanic got to it and looks to have done a good job.