Half shafts broken???????

My other half went out in the Landy the other day and when half way out at the junction heard a clunk and lost all drive
all she got was a grinding noise but luckily she managed to cruise over to the verge!!!
I went in and put it into difflock and managed to drive it back!!!! I'm thinking it's the half shaft broken but is there an easy test to tell which one?
I've had a search through some threads and found something about jacking up each wheel and trying to spin it!!! I'd like a bit of advice to make sure i'm testing it properly!!! I'm assuming that if the wheel spins then that's the broken one
When I do figure out which one it is (hopefully not the Diff) is it better to replace both rather than just the one side?
I replaced them many many years ago in an old series 3 and i'm hoping that it's pretty much the same to do them in a TD5.

Thanks George.

take out of diff lock put in gear and watch which prop spins as that is axle with fault ,then jack each wheel in turn with other on floor with box in diff lock one that turns is faulty side

jamesmartin said:

take out of diff lock put in gear and watch which prop spins as that is axle with fault ,then jack each wheel in turn with other on floor with box in diff lock one that turns is faulty side

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Thanks James,
Once again you're a godsend!!!!

Atb George.

thanks

mate of mine managed a front and rear at the punch event last week he was running again after half an hour lucky bstid broke a rear halfshaft at the hub end! After removing it getting out any sworf and the like making a tem gasket out of a hib seal box and doing the front Kam stub shaft he was running again. Woulda been soo much easier if he had wheels on which we could have removed the driveflanges but hey ho.

Finally got a chance to do the checks as suggested by James!!!
Rear prop turned with difflock in so narrowed it down to that one! Jacked up each wheel with difflock engaged and both still moved Near side turned with a bit of a grinding noise, Off side turned but without the grinding noise! could hear things turning but definately not as noisy as the near side!
Could it be both shafts or could it be something in the diff??????
Checked each front wheel just to be sure and they both checked out fine(no turning)
Any further advice would be most helpfull as I would like to make sure I have all the correct bits before I start stripping it down.

Atb George.

to check rear axle jack wheel up with habd brake on ,half shaft diff or drive member bust if wheel turns,is easy job to pull half shaft out to check

jamesmartin said:

to check rear axle jack wheel up with habd brake on ,half shaft diff or drive member bust if wheel turns,is easy job to pull half shaft out to check

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Thanks James,
just jacked up each wheel with handbrake on and both turned just as previously tested! near side definately makes a grinding noise compared to the off side!
I take it the next step is to remove the half shafts?

If I remember many years ago when I done them on my series111 You could just undo them without removing wheels Jacking up ect and slide them out?? sounds easy

George.

you can on yours too ,5 x m1o bolts ,17mm socket ,reseal with silicone sealant

jamesmartin said:

you can on yours too ,5 x m1o bolts ,17mm socket ,reseal with silicone sealant

Click to expand...

Thanks,
Will go have a look!!!

Well I've removed the half shafts to have a look and found that the near side that was making the grinding noise was worn at the drive flange end and was spinning on the drive flange!!!
Checked the off side and everything seems ok got a little bit of play on this side but doesn't seem too bad!!!! should there be any play on it?

Is it worth changing both sides at once rather than doing just the worn one?
Think I'll drain the diff oil and replace when I'm doing the shaft anyway as well.
Had a quick look at replacements and there seems to be a bit of difference in price!!! are the cheap ones crap and is it a case of you get what you pay for?

Atb George.

how old is your vehicle ?,there shoulnt be much play although lr quality means some a very good fit others a bit looser

jamesmartin said:

how old is your vehicle ?,there shoulnt be much play although lr quality means some a very good fit others a bit looser

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Hi James
it's a 2000 td5 110 double cab.
I did wonder about the slight play if it was just the norm for a Landy!!!!

George.

salisbury axle i presume,britpart do genuine drive member ruc105200g about £10 half shafts ftc1724 and ftc 1725 ,ive fitted both cheap £15-£20 each and genuine ,whereas genuine is better cheap ones have done well and unless doing extreme offroading would be happy to fit both ,lubricate drive member splines when fitting new its the lack of lubrication since fitting seals to keep oil out of wheel brg hub that kills them

decided to do both half shafts and drive flanges as well as draining the diff oil and replacing
Got all the bits ordered so just waiting for them to arrive and i'll get cracking!!!!!

Atb George.

Don't try and climb out a river bed up a steep bank britpart shafts go twang!!

But they are fine for the road as said.

both of mine went, the first was whilst driving in Phuket on the 23 Dec last year and the other about 10 days later, couldn't order new parts so simply welded the shafts to the flanges, can't go wrong again.

bevhelee said:

both of mine went, the first was whilst driving in Phuket on the 23 Dec last year and the other about 10 days later, couldn't order new parts so simply welded the shafts to the flanges, can't go wrong again.

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I had thought about getting the welder out but looked at the price of new ones and thought sod it I'll replace them :doh:

New ones hopefully arriving tomorrow

Atb George.

Gspdad said:

I had thought about getting the welder out but looked at the price of new ones and thought sod it I'll replace them :doh:

New ones hopefully arriving tomorrow

Atb George.

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Don't blame you matey, if I had been able to order some I would've, but sometimes you have to think out of the box to keep moving.

New parts arrived today
Drained the diff before doing anything else and the oil was yukky as anything! a chocolaty brown colour!!!!!!!
Left it draining while I replaced the half shafts and drive flanges, so glad I decided to do both sides!! no play whatsoever in the new ones so the other one was definately worn as well!!!!!
It started ****ing it down just before I was finished but you can only get so wet Was left a little bit short on the new oil so had to nip out and get some more, hopefully get a dry spell tomorrow just to top it up and jobs done!!!!!!!

Got the parts from Paddocks and was expecting it to be Britpart but Karsons or something like that was the maker!!! don't know if that's good or bad????????

Atb George.