99 Discovery Series II

On front drive shaft installation, is clocking required?

Thanks in advance,

Calvin

 

no, should be fine as long as it's balanced

 

Calvin,
Did you have yours rebuilt, did you replace the centering ball kit, if not you may still have some problems.

 

Mike,

I was planning on rebuilding it by replacing the u-joints only. Where do I get a centering ball kit? Also, can the u-joints be picked up at standard parts houses?

FYI, British Atlanticstrongly suggested that I replace it, otherwise Iam destined to have a catastrophic failure in the future.What is your experience on rebuilt drive shafts?

Thanks,

Calvin

 

The "center ball kit" part # is either

Neapco 7-0081NG

or

Precision 617

Either brand works.

For U-joints:

Note: the Neapco U-Joint is nice (part # 1-0005), it has the grease zerk nipple in the end cap, making for easy greasing. The Precision 344 u-joints do not have the endcap zerk fitting, but is in the base of the joint (less friendly to grease). If your parts supplier looks up the u-joint by vehicle make and can't find a LR Disco, get a u-joint for a 1993 Volvo 240 (same joint size).

If you do this yourself, be extra careful not to dislodge any of the needle bearings in any of the afore mentioned parts.

 

Whatever brand you choose, I would get the u-joint and center ball kit from the same manufacturer.

 

OK. I now have the u-joints on the back removed but I can't get the centering ball out. Whatis the secret?

 

Re-posting my response to an earlier driveshaft question:


The centering ball kit is the only curve ball. It is pressed in. The old one has to be removed. If you can figure a way to securely attach it, a heavy slide hammer should pull it out. Otherwise, take a cold chisel to the sleeve around the ball (after you pop the ball out (you can use a heavy screw driver on the ball)). Chisel a split in the sleeve and remove. Note that there is (at least on my 2000 DII) a small lip under that sleeve at the top(beginning of split). Once past that lip the rest is a relatively easy straight shot. If you use a chisel, clean any burrs left by the chisel around that lip area. The new ball and sleeve presses in. Note: a 1 inch socket(as I recall) fits perfectly over the sleeve, and just inside the hole it is pressed into. Once seated, tap on the seal over the ball with the same socket.

When reassembling the double cardon, attach the shaft and yoke last. Assemble the guts of the double cardon first. The centering ball has to fit onto a pin with a spring in it. There will be a protective sleeve (on the new ball kit)holding the needle bearings in place with a new spring inside it. Remove sleeve and add some grease if you want since it's non-greasable after assembly, place onto the pin with the new spring. Be very, very careful not to misplace any needle bearings

Now the trick is to keep it together and assemble the two opposite posts of each u-joint together. Then finish the remaining u-joint posts to finish up. If you got greaseable zerks go ahead and top them off. Note that the u-joints are attached in typical fashion. As usual, be careful with the needle bearings when replacing a cap. If one (or more) falls in the cap when installing, the slot for the spring clip will be blocked by the cap. The needle is approx. the same thickness as the slot. If you do drop a needle or two, inspect them carefully, as they are relatively brittle because of their inherent hardness. A small chip can cause a lot of premature wear. Even if installed correctly, the tolerences of the caps and spring clips can be rather snug. Be sure the clips are seated before wrapping up.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks for the information. I trieda slide hammer and screw driver on the ballwith no success. I plan on taking it to amachine shop tomorrow.

Once assembled, do you recommend balancing before putting in service?

 

Dear Forum members,

I am in a fairly remote region of northern Kenya on a research project with a wireless modem and while this should be a new question to the forum I have having problems navigating your website. So please bear with me and I hope the forum can help us out.

We have a 01 Discovery td5 (diesel). The back u-joints for the front drive shaft assembly went out on us yesterday. We took the front drive shaft assembly off (4 bolts & 8 nuts) and managed to get this u-joint replaced and everything back on.

Our problem is that we could not get a replacement for the ball joint. Can we run the Discovery (for very long) without this ball joint?

We have been able to drive it slowly for about 40-50 km at about 50-60 km/hr.

We think that we can get a complete front drive assembly but it is going to take us about 3-4 days to get it and bit a bit more $$ than we really want to spend.

I have read a number of postings about the front drive shaft assembly on the Forum. Can we really damage the transmission if we don't replace the bal joint?

We have been told that if the same thing had happened on a Toyota Hilux (Tacoma in the States) that we could run the thing forever by just replacing the dead u-joint and not have to replace the ball-joint.

What do Forum members think.

Hope this is enough info.

any suggestions or recommendations are greatly appreciated. If necessary please contact me at hiltonch@grinnell.edu

thanks in advance.