Hey all!

I currently find myself 10 hours away from home (and more importantly the garage) on a work trip and need to replace the front drive shaft before making the drive back home in a week. I'm coincidentally near a British Atlantic warehouse, so I have a driveshaft and related hardware. Question is, can I replace this without jack stands and a jack? I keep a full set of tools in the LR and I'll still be doing this in the hotel parking lot.

Thanks!
Brandon

 

You can. It might be tight if you don't have lift, but totally doable. You might try driving the front wheels up on a curb and chocking the back tires if you need more space. You'll just need the proper socket and two open end wrenches.

You may have to move the vehicle to access the top two nuts on either side, as usually with jacking you can spin a front wheel to rotate the shaft to access the bolts on the floor pan side. It takes two wheels being jacked up to rotate the tires though, so on the ground you may have to loosen two, roll the truck a few feet and loosen the others, then roll again to fully remove them.

 

OK awesome. I have the British Atlantic socket tool, so all good on that front. Need to get two 9/16" open ended wrenches though at Home Depot or some place nearby. I only have a supply of metric open ends in the truck.

I read on a post long ago that only one wheel needs to be lifted in order to rotate the driveshaft, which I can accomplish with the onboard factory jack. But doesn't sound like that's true?

 

Done easily, undo accessible bolts, place truck in neutral and push it forward or backward a few feet to spin shaft

 

If you put the trans or T-case in N, you need only 1 front wheel off the ground.

Or just push it 6-8 feet as others have said. Easier than messing with the bottle jack.

 

I wish I could. For some reason the transfer case selector isn't budging. Been that way for a couple months now.

 

Put the transmission in neutral then

 

i've always been able to access all of the bolts without needing to rotate the driveshaft. i think i've pulled a front driveshaft around a dozen times. once you're under there you might find that you don't have to worry about moving anything.

 

Hoping so. I have a swivel head socket here to help. Whatever the situation, I switched from old BMWs to Land Rovers a couple years ago and OHMYGAWD these are so much easier to work on than those. Funny to see some rebadged BMW parts though here and there on the Disco. The first time I saw the cooling system bleed screw, I said "hello old friend" and felt right at home.

 

FWIW the bolts on the drive shaft are metric. On the TC side you don't have to remove the bolt, just the nut, which should be facing forward... but you do have to have an open end spanner to keep it from spinning.