New shafts pretty cheap if you put any value on your time. I have more tools and experience than most and I am sure it would take me 2-3 hrs and I have done it before. And yes you will need more than an arbor press, more like a u-joint press or hydraulic press.

 

Agreed. I am a technician for a living.l have done double cardan rebuilds on driveshafts and that's why i know just to drop it at a drive shaft shop for what it cost for 3 u joints, the double center ball thing, and my labor... it just isnt worth it... id rather get back a balanced and painted one. I don't know the cost for a rover shaft... but if it's less than 300 I wouldn't bother doing it myself.

 

The Tom woods is under $400 and there are plenty of less robust options out there for under $200 so it's not worth the time (imo) to rebuild.

 

Yep, two things l can't stand doing, after being a mechanic for forty some years, is C/V joints and cardon driveshaft rebuilds.

 

When I needed to upgrade the front driveshaft in my truck 10+ years ago, replacement shafts were a lot more expensive than they are now, so I bought three high-quality NEAPCO u-joints and a centering ball kit and took everything to a local driveline shop. They installed the new parts and balanced the shaft for $50. The parts cost me maybe around $100, I recall. I read enough to know I could have possibly done the work myself, but I didn't have all the right tools and for $50 it was worth it to have someone who knew what they were doing take care of it for me.

Today, Lucky 8 sells a fully-greasable front driveshaft for $188 including shipping. Today, I'd go that route.

And BTW, unlike The Deputy I'm not a mechanic with 40+ years experience, but after reading too many stories here about jobs that went awry I'll add ball joints to the list of I'll happily pay to have done for me, should my truck ever need them.

 

Time. That's why.

 

I will say do not buy a Lucky8 cheap shaft. Got less than 8K miles from mine and had it fail on a cross country trip yesterday......not a happy camper right now. Luckily caught it before it blew up and only lost about 20 min to pull it and lock the CDL.

 

i had a Lucky8 cheap one go on me, as well. i got more than 8,000 miles but still, it was a pretty short lived propshaft.

 

I got mine from BPUtah, heavy duty with oversized U-joints, $379 two and a half years / 24,000 miles ago.

 

Yea#h. My lucky 8 is going ti&'s up,less than 5,000 on it. That's why I'm asking about "Do it yourselfin"