Is it safe to drive with one rear half shaft removed?

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JimmyOlds

Member
Posts
11
Location
New Zealand
Hi everyone,

The centre diff in my 96 Discovery V8 auto has broken in such a way that it is now permanently locked. Eventually I will get around to replacing it, but before I can do that there’s some trips I’d like to do in it.

Would it cause any damage if I were to remove the shorter of the rear half shafts and drive it like that? I would make a cover to fit where the half shaft went to prevent oil spilling.

My thinking is that with one of the halfshafts removed, no drive will reach the rear wheels and so no bind up will occur. Once I reach the trail I’d put the halfshaft back in to make it 4wd again. This would be preferable to removing a driveshaft since it would be much quicker with better access (my friends didn’t take too kindly to me reinstalling my driveshaft last trip!)

Is there anything I’m not thinking of here that would make this a bad idea?

Cheers,
James
 
I would not risk it.

More likely to break the driving end.

Also I would be worried about the pinion in the diff
 
What does?? Mean?

I would guess the #14's would.

upload_2019-12-23_16-37-9.png


Cheers
 
I would guess the #14's would.

View attachment 196786

Cheers

I'm not that well up on the Disco, but I'm pretty sure the last oil seal I did involved removing a large nut on the end of the half shaft, so the hub can be withdrawn from the hub carrier. I could have got it mixed up with another vehicle, but I thought it was assembled like this.
20191223_163630.jpg
 
If it's like this, then theoretically it could be driven without a half shaft. However wouldn't it be safer to remove the rear propshaft, and a half shaft, then lock the centre diff. Then it'll be a FWD and not put any load on the rear diff. Just a thought mind.

Well, if you read the OP, he does not want to reomve the "drive shaft" prop as he calls it.
Why bother removing a halfshaft if he was happy to remove a prop shaft.

Cheers
 
Takes about 10 minutes to put a prop (drive) shaft on. Buy one of the propshaft sockets and carry a 14mm spanner and an impact wrench. Jack up one side (CDL locked) so you can rotate the propshaft to get decent access to all nuts. Much easier than pulling a half shaft I would have thought.
 
Takes about 10 minutes to put a prop (drive) shaft on. Buy one of the propshaft sockets and carry a 14mm spanner and an impact wrench. Jack up one side (CDL locked) so you can rotate the propshaft to get decent access to all nuts. Much easier than pulling a half shaft I would have thought.

If you read Post 1, he explains why he does not want to remove the propshaft. It appears that he will be in a hurry, and may not be on terrain where it is safe to jack the vehicle up.
Furthermore, he states that he cannot unlock the centre diff at all, due to an unspecified fault.
 
Interesting concept that I never came across before. Wouldn't that cause the power to be transferred to the diff gear with the half shaft removed, given that it will have no load ?
 
If you read Post 1, he explains why he does not want to remove the propshaft. It appears that he will be in a hurry, and may not be on terrain where it is safe to jack the vehicle up.
Furthermore, he states that he cannot unlock the centre diff at all, due to an unspecified fault.

Thank you for your dismissive post. I did read Post 1. Did you read mine? My comment was that IMHO with the right tools a propshaft can be removed faster than a half shaft. How long does it take to remove 8 bolts with an impact wrench? He says that he wishes to save time, but does not state that he would be on terrain where the vehicle cannot be jacked. Are you sure you read Post 1?
Again if you read my post, I make it clear that he would need to jack one side of the vehicle to rotate the propshaft because the CDL is locked.
 
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