Me: 6 months into accidentally owning a 1999 Discovery II with 140000 miles on it. Browsing this forum everyday ever since and this is my first post.

Background story: whilst doing a hundred things to tighten the beast up, I noticed a chirping sound that my mechanic could not diagnose and was driving me crazy. I originally had it inspected at a dealer in Bellevue, WA and they never said a thing. 3 weeks ago, I took it to Firestone and had them inspect underneath and they saw nothing as well...

The chirp eventually turned into a shuddering vibration upon acceleration, so I parked the rig, checked this and other LR forums for the symptoms and everything screamed: u-joints, Front Prop Shaft. I crawled under the truck and did indeed discover damage at the rear of the front drive shaft.

I would love to follow the instruction to rebuild the shaft but I fear there is too much damage

To my untrained eyes it looks like the two rear u-joints at the back of the front prop shaft have worn into the Hooke joint?? housing and connector plate?? attached to the transfer case??

I know the pictures are not the greatest but I was hoping that a few experts would recognize the wear or have experienced this level of failure before?

Can I purchase just the parts that appear damaged at the rear of the front prop shaft and then rebuild the shaft with new u-joints and the like, and if so, what part names and numbers would I be looking for?

Or, should I pick up a complete, quality rebuild from some of the highly recommended shops on these forums?

Or...should I just purchase a brand new one from Atlantic British?

Any other suggestions?

Full disclosure - non-mechanic but I quickly liked this vehicle even with its quirks probably because I spent the last 5 years driving a SAAB ; )

Thanks for any advice in advance, I appreciate it.

 

You can go on line and buy the replacement parts to rebuild it or take it to a local driveline shop, send to a driveline shop or buy a New one I think I seeen Tom Woods driveline sell a new one for $270.00.

 

Yours isn't rebuildable in it's current condition.
It might be difficult to find the parts you need to replace the damaged parts.
Options are:
- A cheap one from a junk yard to have rebuilt. I wouldn't pay over $50 for it if you're paying someone else to rebuild it.
- New OEM propshaft - I wouldn't go this route as it's very expensive and you'll have a sub-par propshaft.
- Rebuilt OEM from Great Basin. Not sure how much this would be since your core is damaged, but you could ask.
- New HD propshaft from Great Basin.
- New HD propshaft from Tom Woods.
- New HD propshaft from some other source.

 

First stop driving it before it puts a hole in your transmission. As stated above it is wrecked.

 

I picked up a brand-new shaft off e-bay, fully serviceable, for just over $300 shipped. You can find cheaper ones that are re-built factory ones, but they want a core. And probably won't take your's
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT

 

Wow. You're one lucky dude. That shaft wasnt going to hang on much longer. I second AntiChrist's assessment. You need a whole new shaft. Whether that's new, used, or otherwise is up to your wallet.

 

Thanks everyone for taking a look. A unanimous call for REPLACEMENT! It's on the way to the mechanic today so I will instruct accordingly and post back when it's back on the road!

 

I hope it's on it's way to the mechanic on a flatbed. That drive shaft is a ticking time bomb. It is going to take out your tranny and/or transfer case any minute.

 

Nice to have a fellow former Saaber here. I did the same and find the "quirks" from the Land Rover to be every bit as charming as Saab quirks.

Glad you have a new propshaft in your near future. I don't know what year and model of Saab you had but I bet I could find a parallel Saab part to describe how lucky you are that you did this before your shaft grenaded.

 

Order a new shaft from Great Rover Basins or Tom Woods. It will cost you 300 dollars, then shipping.

Remove your old one and bolt the new one on. It's not too difficult. Only 8 bolts. If your not comfortable doing that, take the new shaft to the local Firestone and they will do it for you on one of their lifts. Should not take them longer than 30 minutes. The new shaft will come already balanced. So it's plug and play.