Well I pulled the front drive shaft. All seems good. As I mentioned in my first post,.....the front joint of the front shaft has a grease/zerk fitting. I think I have read that this means it is a replacement joint or shaft. both the front and the rear double u-joint feel smooth with no slop in any direction. The double Cardan requires that each side of the joint move an identical amount,......I assume that is correct.

I called a local driveshaft shop and they want $60 just to look at it and determine if there are any issues,................and check and correct the balance,. claiming that just bolting the shaft in the machine and setting things up for a balance check is 90% of what they do to re-balance a shaft,..........so,..............a check costs the same as a re-balance. ($60).

Buzz, you asked if I had a Flex-disc on my rear shaft. I do,.............at the rear where it couples to the yolk on the diff.

 

If you only have a grease fitting in the front joint, your shaft is original and needs to be rebuilt. A rebuilt or aftermarket shaft will have 4 or 5 grease fittings (one on each u-joint, one on the shaft itself, and then maybe one on the centering ball depending on the shaft).

It is a pain in the *** to rebuild the stock shaft. I have rebuilt several shafts fom different vehicles, and the oem Rover front shaft is easily the most difficult I've tangled with.

So if you aren't a pretty competent mechanic, you need to have it rebuilt by that shop. And those prices don't sound bad. $60 to check or balance it is about right. It'll cost more to rebuild, for sure, but if I could go back I'd at least consider having it rebuilt just because it really wasn't fun to do.

The rear flex disc can rot and start to some apart and cause vibrations. You could crawl under with a flash light and take a close look at it. If it hasn't been replaced, it may very well need it.

 

I've been underneath with a flashlight and the flexdisc does not appear to be deteriorated in any way. Just a visual inspection.

 

It's probly ok then. If it were coming apart enough to cause a vibration I think you'd be able to see it pretty easily.

 

Buzz, Mike, I do NOT have the CDL "spud" on the rear most corner of the Transfer case. I think if I understood you prior post, this means that I cannont manually lock the center diff and drive the truck as a 2wd to see if removing the front driveshaft eliminates the high frequency vibration I was having starting at 23 mph.

 

So, what would you guys think is typical for the cost of rebuilding the OE driveshaft?

BC

 

DIY about $100 in our tech area.