Since buying my 2001 Discovery II with 134k on the odometer nearly two years ago I've been frustrated by vibration in the drivetrain. After reading plenty of threads here on the subject of mysterious vibration I thought I'd post my experience in chasing this down.

I started by ditching the nearly-new BFG K/O tires which, in my experience on other trucks, are nearly impossible to keep in balance and replaced them with BFG All Terrain's. That helped a lot but I still had an annoying vibe between 61 and 70 mph.

Now with the Disco approaching 150k miles things were getting worse.

The front drive shaft was OEM but the previous owner had converted it to serviceable u-joints by a driveline shop just before I bought the truck. Since I'd owned the truck the drive shaft(s) had been greased at every oil change and felt smooth and free of slop. The flex joint at the rear was in good shape.

I pulled the front shaft, locked the CDL and went for a drive. No vibration. Looking at the shaft closely, I felt a very slight amount of play in the splines of the slip joint and the centering ball had just a bit of notchiness in it - not horrible and barely noticeable. The yoke on the front diff and transfer case were both tight.

I ordered a new front drive shaft from Tom Wood's Custom Drive Shafts, installed it this morning and all the vibration is finally gone.

The lesson for me is that even if the u-joints have been replaced with serviceable units and feel fine, the slip joint splines will still eventually wear out. This part of the drive shaft gets plenty of abuse from being so close to the heat of the catalytic converter and while I can attest to its frequent greasing while I've owned the truck, who knows what it got before. After 150,000 miles it's not unreasonable to see it simply worn out.

Tom Wood's was fantastic to deal with and I can't give them a high enough recommendation. The new drive shaft is beefy, well balanced, fully serviceable including the centering ball, and a nice upgrade from OEM. They provided detailed installation and maintenance recommendations including the type of grease they recommend. Seriously - if you need a drive shaft built Tom Wood's is the place to go.

Hope this helps!

 

I have the same issue with the 01 I bought last week so I really appreciate your post. If it is not too personal a question may I know what they charge for a new driveshaft?