Soooooo, In my never ending mission to eliminate rotational noises in the Disco I have eliminated all but one coming from my rear. I finally put the whole truck up on jacks this morning and found it coming from the rear prop shaft at the flex coupling. Rotated it around and sure enough, CREAK CREAK.

So I figured I'd go ahead and grease all six bolts but that didn't solve it. So I dropped the whole shaft and found that the centering bushing was shredded at the the lip. Meaning, right at the end of the bush is a small lip that contains a spring ring that has ripped off, the rest of the bush is fine. I just packed the whole damn thing full of grease and put it back on there minus that lip and the little spring ring.

Keep in mind I just replaced this bush last month when I replaced the coupling. Why it seared off I haven't the foggiest but I'm guessing I nicked it getting it in the drive shaft.

So I'm wondering if I really should worry about that small little piece of the bush as the sound has stopped and nothing is grinding. I'd rather not have to replace it a second time because I can't find just the bushing anywhere and AB wants me to buy the whole flex kit just for the bush.

Honestly I don't want to be bothered dropping the thing again until I have the money for a tom woods.

Should I be seriously concerned or what? If so does anyone know where I can find that bush.

Any thoughts?

 

I don't know much about the propshafts or the rotoflex as I don't have one and all I've done to my propshafts is grease the zirks. But from what I'm hearing, I'd assume you're cool. As long as you keep an ear out for things fouling I think you'd be ok. Perhaps someone else knows more.

 

Honestly I don't want to be bothered dropping the thing again until I have the money for a tom woods.

Are you planning on driving it at highway speeds or primarily off-road?

I read that the Tom Woods is great for off-road, but is not good for highway speeds.

I recently changed my rear d/s to a 98 from the recycler nearby to get away from the rotoflex after having two fail in less than 15K miles from replacement. The second time it failed, my rear flange broke at one of the bolt holes and replacing it all less than the replacement price of the rotoflex and a new flange.

I bought a four bolt flange from Paul Grant at a great price to finish it up.