Hi all,

So I tore my rear propshaft out of my D1 last night to find the joints are in pretty good condition in terms of movement. They look like crap, but they seem to have a good free range of movement with no catching or binding anywhere. I was going to replace them anyway as the truck is new to me with almost 150k on it. My question is, what do I need to know about centering the new joints once I've got them installed on the shaft? A few friends of mine are telling me this is a big concern when rebuilding propshafts as if they're not centered, bad things can obviously happen. I've done as much internet research as I can on the subject, and not once have I seen anything about re-centering these. What's the deal?

 

Now you can say you've seen them.....

https://landroverforums.com/forum/ge...rebuild-29302/

 

The joints are sized so there is no movement of the joint and its caps in the yokes beyond the intended rotational movement. Post install all I have done is grease them up, then run the car for a week or so, regrease them. The only issues I have seen on these shafts is if you have the older series sized shafts on early "defender" models where the later joints don't fit right and have play in them, causes clear vibrations.

Your friends might be referring to having the shaft balanced?

Additionally, a lot of times you see people chalking the flanges and the shaft ends so that when you reinstall they use the same holes and are not 90, 180, or 270 degrees rotated away from how it was originally but functionally speaking I have not seen a huge issue with that.

 

Thanks for your reply. I've read that thread, it doesn't say anything about centering on the D1 though. It mentions you need a centering kit for the D2 front shaft. Is centering only a big deal for double-cardan shafts?

 

That's what I thought, about the joints being sized exactly to prohibit axial movement. But then I saw some youtube video of a guy installing different snap rings to take up even the last infinitesimal bit of slack in the joint (he left it at 1/1000") I believe and I got freaked out. Yes, they may be referring to shaft balancing. Thank you!