Series 2 Propshaft corrosion experiences?

G'day folks,

The condition of my rear propshaft looks a bit dodgy to me.

The rust has taken hold and left a nasty "Hamerite hammered" finish. 'Cos the maximum stress is on the outer surfaces of the shaft I reckon it is best to replace rather than to paint and hope for the best.







So I was wondering are there any "flipping yourself over in a ditch" experiences out there worth sharing?

My gut feel is that doesn't look too bad. I think they are fairly thick so I would opt for getting it back to metal and painting. However if you are at all worried get a new one. I am sure I saw the thickness when I separated mine and you are probably not even 10 percent in.

That is a result of years of neglect nothing on a vehicle should ever be allowed to get like that.

Have you tried immersing it in molasses?

wammers said:

That is a result of years of neglect nothing on a vehicle should ever be allowed to get like that.

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Look a damn site better than mine

I think that looks bad. I wonder if the Land Rover was used to launch boats or something. ie spending a lot of time in water.

It probably is still strong enough. But given the prices, why not swap it out.
http://www.paddockspares.com/stc573-rear-propshaft-lwb-s11-11a-4cyl.html

I'm going to change it for another one. I'd like to get one that looks like "a real one" rather than the paddocks offering though. My second hand parts supplier go to chap here in Holland says he has a good one. I'm just waiting on a price.

Thanks for the paddocks link though - that might get used for a bit of price jiggling.

I was actually looking for some horror stories more along the lines of "one time when it was dark and I was driving on a twisty bit"...

That's the thing with old rover engineering. It just keeps banging on. It might complain now and then but hit it with a big enough hammer and all will be well.

give it a tap with a light hammer if you get a dull thud scrap it if it rings then still quite thick, never known one to fail with corrosion of tube , usually sliding joint spline wear or damage to the yoke whilst renewing bearings.
Cut and shut one awhile back off a discovery for my front , tube was quite thick.

Blackburn said:

give it a tap with a light hammer if you get a dull thud scrap it if it rings then still quite thick, never known one to fail with corrosion of tube , usually sliding joint spline wear or damage to the yoke whilst renewing bearings.
Cut and shut one awhile back off a discovery for my front , tube was quite thick.

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Mine does still ring like a bell - but I'm still not too happy with the corrosion. I'll see if I can get me mits on a good second hand one and then replace the UJs as planned for the old.

If the UJ's are good and no play then rub back, paint with hammerite and refit. You would break a drive shaft way before you would break the prop tube in a stress test. My rear prop was pretty grotty on the outside but cleaned up and painted fine.

If you do get a new one (or new second hand) then cut the old one and post a picture so we can see how thick it is!

tomhop said:

If you do get a new one (or new second hand) then cut the old one and post a picture so we can see how thick it is!

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Sure thing. I'll have to wait until I get a replacement though because as it is something is quite possibly better than nothing!

I suspect a new aftermarket one will be thinner than your original corroded one!

300bhp/ton said:

I think that looks bad. I wonder if the Land Rover was used to launch boats or something. ie spending a lot of time in water.

It probably is still strong enough. But given the prices, why not swap it out.
http://www.paddockspares.com/stc573-rear-propshaft-lwb-s11-11a-4cyl.html

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It does have the look of having been in a marine environment, or at least a very salty one, like an exposed west facing coast.

They are cheap enough, but the new one will probably be poorer quality, and have minimal weather protection so it will need painting too!

Land Raver said:

I suspect a new aftermarket one will be thinner than your original corroded one!

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Sadly, you might be right! And made of Turkish or Indian steel!

The plan at the moment is to find another old one and put in some new UJs. Hopefully I'm not being too optimistic about second hand parts quality but like you say the new stuff is probably gonna be ham shank...

Just had a quick look on ebay and the second hand ones look pretty much like yours.

LordOWar said:

Just had a quick look on ebay and the second hand ones look pretty much like yours.

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Yeah I know. I'm off to see the wizard (apparently) the wonderful wizard near Leiden who might have something that's a bit better when he gets back from his holiday...