local garage has fooked my propshaft

hi all i have a 2003 freelander td4, ive had her from new and had no probs until last week when i could hear and feel a judder from under the car when slowing down ,so had a look under and found that the propshaft carrier bearing bush was shot,anyway after reading threds on here decided to buy the bearings off ebay(GKN) and was going to fit them myselfbut after a lot of thought decided to get local garage to fit them:doh:first of all when coming back to the garage after a quick cuppa i noticed my car up on the ramp with the front and rear props hanging from the ird and diffand the cvu on the ground with the two bearings and a oxy tourch beside themanyway to cut a long story short they put new bearings on and the car was ratterling like a goodinso i asked them to take the propshaft off and noticed that the gaiter was split and oil peeing outthe cvu had been hit with a mal,loads of play on the uj that fits to the transfer box and a big egg shaped dent on the housing to the uj (the bit around the gaiter)i am soooooooooooo!ive nearly broke the key board on my computer:doh:anyway after a talk with one of the monkeys(mechanics)i have to go back on wednesday so they can inspect it.anyone got any advice on what i should do??, much appreciated

take lots of pictures.

The Mad Hat Man said:

take lots of pictures.

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of the damage and a few of the wife for us!!sorry could n't resist.
Take pic's like mhm told you also don't agree to anything unless you can watch them work.To be honest can you trust them to put it right.

thanks for the replys guys, what could be the damage to the c.v.u after hittin it with a hammer,could they have damaged the transfer box or back diff,i am sure they have wellied the cvu off while the front prop was connected to the box:mil13:

The VCU will be very unimpressed if it's been exposed to the heat from a BOC spanner. Remember they operate by small changes in temperature effecting the viscous gel's properties.

Also if the props have been left hanging, instead of removing them properly. The UJ's will have been severly stressed, as will the IRD bearings and the rear diff. I'd be wanting to check them very carefully, or have them checked by someone, whilst your garage have properly removed the props....

As an after thought. Have a look in the 'How to' section at the top of the page. Hippo has given a very good description of how the job should have been done....

Try them for a new VCU plus bearings and an option on the cv joints either end if the turn out to be noisey or not feel right. Tell them you will be kind to them and not insist on a brand new one from Landrover but an exchange from Bell Engineering - better still ask them for compensation of about £400 and go to Bell yourself and get real experts to sort it out. Bell do a free check if you need something in writing to tell you the state of the VCU and other parts.

The garage has a duty of care to you, which means that if they did not carry out the repair in a safe and satisfactory manner they have failed in that. If the garage said they could do the repair or replacement of the shaft bearings the least you could have expected is that they had someone who knew what they were doing to work on it. As for the cv joints being left hanging, the cv joint is not like a universal joint, they have a cage with big ball bearings inside it, and if the shaft has been hanging on these enough to split the gaitor then I think it would be a fair bet that one or more of these balls has been dislodged which would give the play you say it now has. They have an obligation to put right what they have cocked up on and if they don't take it to the information to the trading standards dept and persue a claim for compensation to rectify the fault in the small claims court. I would also advise getting a second opinion in writing from another garage which does know what Freelanders are about.

The CV joint (only one on the rear drive train) is not the usual joint with large ball bearings in a cage instead it has three large rollers so leaving it hanging should not be a problem, the split boot obviously is. LR do not supply the boot on its own only the complete new joint/prop but replacement boots can be found by doing a search of this forum.

Thank's for all your advicethese are my next steps in resolving my dilemma,1.take prop to a specialist and get a written report of the damage. 2.buy the replacement parts from internet (genuine lr parts) 3. get a quote from LR to fit the prop 4.give the bill to the local garage and ask them to compensate,and if they do then fair enough,but i can't see itif not then i will get in touch with trading standards,and the local newspapper , because i'm sure the last thing that this company wants is their photo all over the newspapper (for the wrong reasons).i think that i can get all of the work done to make my landy 4x4 again for around 300 sqid ,thats if the vcu is ok.i just hope that they havn't damaged the diff and/or the ird.i know peeps take the shaft off for more mpg,but i work in co.durham and if you know this area you will know that a 4x4 is a most in the winter:crazy_driver:anyway thanks for all your inputand i will update you's after ive sorted this mess out.

Know your problem, lived in Durham city and worked in Jarrow for 10 years and the daily commute in the long snowy winters used to be horrendous. My Wife used to have studded snow tyres when the weather turned and that was just to take the children to School.

Test yer vcu as per the video below in me signature.

There's far too many garages out there taking on work which they don't know how to complete correctly. Anyone taking their Freelander to a garage needs to find out if they've worked on Freelanders before.

hi hippo yes ive read alot of the threads and seen your youtube vids,the thing is i was recommended this garage as one of the guys there worked for a lr garage in northumberland and thought he would be doing the workwhy have someone that knows lr and not get them to do the job,anyway the guy that done the damage must have just steamed at it with spanners and mallets blazingnot understanding the technical stuff and not even asking for advice before starting:der:i took the car in at 9am and ended up telling them to remove the prop at around 3pm and after a lot of spiel from this guy i new they were not going to hold their hands up,they even tried to put silicon on the gaiter to cover up the split,even when there was oil peeing out:mad2:in hindsight i should have followed my gut feeling and drove straight past and went to a lr garage,for the sake of saving 75 sqid or done the job myself:doh:.

independant written assessment and small claims court. With a call to Trading Standards.

MHM hope this mess dosnt get that far.i just want them to pay for the damage to be put right.

Make sure yo arse is covered and yo case is watertight.
Assume the worst and hope for the best.

MHM car was taken to lr main dealer in november for a free health check dont know how deep they go into things but their was no mention of any issues with the propeller shaft in the report.

A lot of things can change in 7 months though.

Get an independant report done on the car and the work carried out, cover yourself to the full as the garage looks to be playing it down now. You had a working car when you entered, they took the work on in good faith to fix it properly.

They haven't and have caused damage to the car.

dasgas said:

hi hippo yes ive read alot of the threads and seen your youtube vids,the thing is i was recommended this garage as one of the guys there worked for a lr garage in northumberland and thought he would be doing the workwhy have someone that knows lr and not get them to do the job,anyway the guy that done the damage must have just steamed at it with spanners and mallets blazingnot understanding the technical stuff and not even asking for advice before starting:der:i took the car in at 9am and ended up telling them to remove the prop at around 3pm and after a lot of spiel from this guy i new they were not going to hold their hands up,they even tried to put silicon on the gaiter to cover up the split,even when there was oil peeing out:mad2:in hindsight i should have followed my gut feeling and drove straight past and went to a lr garage,for the sake of saving 75 sqid or done the job myself:doh:.

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They may have a mechanic who worked for an LR garage in the past, but it could be he's busy on more difficult jobs. He may have told someone what to do and left them to it. They then took the quick route. Or they just use his status as a marketing ploy.

It is possible to change the bearings with the props fitted as long as you support them. From experience they would probably have sight surface rust onto the splines which is why they had the torch, to heat it up, to get the bearings off. As said you can change the bearings with the props fitted, but I would personally never advise anyone to do this. More can go wrong with them fitted. Those who replace bearings/VCU’s with the props fitted will have stands suitable for supporting the props. If they don’t, they should.

You need to test your vcu. If it’s been damaged due to heat then it may have seized. This could damage your ird or/and rear diff. The one wheel up test will show if the vcu is working ok. Driving with a duff vcu is only going to cost more to repair.

The days of an honest garage are gone in my opinion. I had my air con recharged the other day. I went to a tyre fitter type place which I've been to before. They don't stop you from standing by your vehicle while they work on it. You just have to keep safe and not annoy them. Other than this I'm very picky as to who works on my Freelander. Hence why I try to do stuff myself.

You need photos and photos and more photos !!!


You need to make sure all communications with them are recorded, by yourself. Times, dates etc. Make sure you retain copies of anything you give them or they give you.

You need to make them understand that they breached their Duty of Care, by refitting a drivetrain component that they damage. If they have put impact marks in the rollerpin bearings (CV joints). Then the bearings inside obviously will be unable to function correctly and damaging a drivetrain component and refitting it to a vehicle is unsafe.

What your describing with the oil leaking out of the front joint, its common occurance when the front prop is mistreated. The repair for this issue is a replacement front prop. If the grease is leaking out , it will eventually empty and thusly, its unsafe. I think you are unable to get this part seperately from LR (i think?).

I have a hunch a genuine replacement propershaft and refitment would come to around £2k? I'm sure people here have a better idea of genuine prices on complete prop assemblies though.