Drive shaft nightmare
 

I have 134k on my Disco 2. The original ungreasable drive shaft was still on there so I decided to do the right thing and replace the u joints and centering bearing.

It was a little hard to remove one of the nuts from the transfer case hub. These nuts are some sort of alloy akin to those found on exhaust manifolds and they are not 14mm rather they are 9/16th. I had to use a propane tourch to heat it up so I didnt totally strip it. Be carefull of this especially if live in a road salty climate like Minnesota.

After getting the shaft out, I proceeded to take out the "easy" single u joint on the differential side. I used a ball joint and u joint press tool with my impact wrench as driver and before I knew it the forward yolk bent and cracked so I basically trashed the front of the drive shaft. Those caps were so corroded in that yolk gave way before the spider budged!!

When I saw that this job was going to be a real PITA, I decided not to waste time trying to find another yolk so I ordered a new shaft from Rich at Driveshaft Power1 in Florida, $324 and free shipping for a brand new shaft with greasible fittings. I asked Rich about this issue i.e. bending yolks. He said that it is a common issue nowdays because most metals are not heat treated properly so they dont have the strength of the older drive line parts. In fact he said he often carefully uses a pitman arm puller to nurse out stubborn end caps on the spiders. I have not done enough u joints to really be well versed in their service but I guess I learned my lesson.

I live in Minnesota; all of our roads are heavily salted in the winter and as a result many undercarriage parts are almost always rendered rendered unsperateable. I had to take a BMW e34 to a Midas Shop once to have the rear shock spring perchs removed after five hours of fruitless effort on my part: heating with torch in my garage. I always have to grind off old stabilizar bars links on all my vehicles because rust destroys their fastners.
I tried to remove the rear alloy wheels once from my nieces Volvo 850 and was unable to beat them off with a large sledge hammer. She took it to a shop and they told her that they would try with a pnuematic ram only she agreed to not hold them liable if they broke the rims in the process.

Apparently the "drag" of the corroded end caps was stronger than the metal in the yolk. By the way, I did douse the U joints in PC Blaster twice the week before doing this job.

The u joints on the double cardon side would probably be worse because they are constantly being rotisseried by the cat that is within inches. Ubber bad combination: super heat and no grease fittings to refresh the grease charge.

Maybe I should have soaked the whole assmebly in WD 40 or PC Blaster overnight before I attempted to push them out and I probably should not have used an impact wrench as driver on the press. But who knows, sometimes _ _ it happens. I have learned that in Minnesota or other Northern States and Canada that you cant expect under the vehicle projects to go well.

That's not cool. I appreciate living where I do each time I work on mine - no corrosion.

I wonder if some smacks with a BFH would have been better than the constant pressure from the press. Been a few years since I've done a u-joint swap... seems I damage them before the u-joints can go bad. :D

I live in one of the worst areas for corrosion, that's why I bought an Arizona/Arkansas truck. Not a spot of rust! Time to waxoyl it before the winter.