Front prop shaft

Hi all. I have been on another LR forum and i have posted 2 questions in the past, but i have never had an answer to them. May be i will have better luck here, so here we go guys.
Today i was to replace the grease nipples on the front & rear props. Easy enough job.....untill i hit a little problem. The front prop had to be removed. The last time that i did anything to any prop, it split into 2 parts, via the splined shaft. You could use man power to split the shaft. I could not split it without the use of a big hammer. Then after much hammering and it parted, i decided to put a complete new end on. UJ / Yoke and spline shaft - complete. I had to do the same again. Put the hammer to work. I thought the splined shaft was supposed to move togather and apart easy to allow for movement in the springs and load ect.

There is some kind of plastic/nylon coating on the shaft but it looks like that is supposed to be there. There is plenty of grease in there so its not stuck in the prop.

My question is.........should the spline shaft move in and out with little effort? and why wont mine and how can i correct this. Over a period of time i would have thought this been unable to move will cause some dammage somewhere?. I have had to re-build the prop and put it back......with it been Sunday i can not replace it if thats what it needs. Thanks.

Just one more thing.....is there anyone close to Doncaster who is well into Discovery's? For chat and advice only.

The prop is a balanced shaft, put the hammer away, just keep trying the splines, turning one spline at a time until you find the one that slides easily. You are supposed to mark the shaft to align the splines.

they should move freely, when i done my UJ's a few months back the propshaft fell into two just under its own weight.

It's a bit late now.....but don't split the prop shaft. The nylon coating on the splines burrs up when you refit and causes the stiffness in the sliding joint. (ooerr )

Having said that there is about 1 tonne of weight over the front axle that will help with moving the sliding joint.

Also have to make sure that you get the two halfs of the prop back together is the splines or else your prop will now be 'out of phase' and can cause a vibration.

HTH

Thanks guys. As you say Andy66 its to late now. Why do we ask the important questions when it's too late LOL. Anyway you are all right, it should move in and out under its own weight. So i went and got another one and i dont think i will bother splitting it!!!

fos1 said:

So i went and got another one and i dont think i will bother splitting it!!!

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No but once fitted and you are sure it is all ok (no vibes ect) dive under with a scribe and mark the fitted position on the axle/prop flanges as well as the spline! Future refits will be easier just in case you forget (as if).....hmmm the voice of experience me thinks

regards

Dave

Dave 2000 said:

No but once fitted and you are sure it is all ok (no vibes ect) dive under with a scribe and mark the fitted position on the axle/prop flanges as well as the spline! Future refits will be easier just in case you forget (as if).....hmmm the voice of experience me thinks

Click to expand...

Good point that .. did mine with a junior hacksaw ..

I'm also from Donny ...

ok question for you all,

Propshaft Phasing
I know that the front propshaft should be out of phase due to the angle of the front axle and diff, 22 degrees seems to ring a bell but can anyone tell me exactly how many splines and exactly which way out it should be or for that matter post a pic. Going on that should the rear propshaft be in phase? Jai

From the Disco 30 Tdi Manual ...



Rear is long enough that it doesn't need the phasing. When the shaft is short the UJ's can bind, and the phasing helps minimise this, hence the longer rear shaft doesn't need phasing. With a big lift they could do though ..

Paul D you are the man! Cheers Jai

I may well do this to my rear Propshaft as its on a 90 and it has a shorter than standard propshaft aswell (Salisbury rear axle) as soon to be lifted possibly-ish Jai Cheers again Jai

Can't see it hurting anything.

If the rear gets more articulation then I guess it's possible, especially with a shiorter shaft, that both UJ's could bind at the same time, which is what the phasing stops. One UJ binding can be 'got away with' but when both do it together then it's a bit more serious.

Good luck ..

Lots of testing to do once its done. will post results when I'm done thanks again Paul, Jai