Before you spend the money on one of the ebay shafts make sure the center head is greaseable. If it's not, or the seller doesn't know what a center head is, definitely get a TW or GBR instead.

 

the drive shaft is fine, completely greasable, brand new, ready to bolt in. It also allowed me to keep my stock one as a spare. And unlike others shafts listed I have no complaints about balance problems at 70mph or any other speed. PS. be sure you replace the nylon lock nut when you replace the shaft, nylocks are only made to be used once.

 

Rebuilding mine this weekend. Called the dealer for a price on new bolts $8.50 each. Price for a new front drive shaft $1108.26

I'll use the directions here and change out my U joints myself. Also seems like a good way to keep it balanced with same shaft, same orientation as it came out.

 

$1108 LOL.

i have bought two full Discovery trucks in running condition for less than that.

 

The Dealer is full of BS like always and trying to scam you big time. I can buy an original Land Rover drive shaft for about $600 and they are no good on top of that because they have no grease nipples and are the reason for so many failures. You can get a superior aftermarket drive shaft for around $300 and pay a mechanic around $50 to install it.

 

Ended up going with the GBR Heavy Duty driveshaft, which I ordered a few days after I posted my last note in this thread. Finally got a working one installed today. Evidently it isn't just the Tom Woods drive shafts that can have the vibration problem (one of the main reasons I went with the GBR over the TW). Had a harmonic vibration in the first shaft between 70 and 85 mph. Took almost 2 weeks to ship the first one, and about 3 to get the replacement, as well as several calls. 2nd driveshaft arrived with a noticeable burr on the plate behind the double cardan joint-almost looked like someone had hit it near the rear edge with a hole punch. Fortunately, they hadn't required me to send the first one back in immediately, so I took the piece from the first and used it in conjunction with the balanced shaft from the second, which resulted in me having a working part. Was kind of disappointed to see that the 2nd part had a visually verifiable flaw after they had indicated they had double checked it. However, the fact that they didn't make me ship the first part back did allow me to avoid a second return. I'm assuming this may have been an isolated incident, as these parts seem to get good accolades on this site-I certainlyh didn't expect to get 2 flawed ones in a row.
Interestingly enough, GBR did advise me to grease their driveshaft every 3000 miles (every oil change). I think that might be a bit excessive, but that was their recommendation. Working on getting through the maintenance list, have several of the items down due to the extended downtime with the driveshaft issue. Was nice to get her back on the road today!
Thanks for the infor from those of you who weighed in on my question, I appreciate it!

 

Why do you think that?
The service interval for u-joints under normal use is every 5,000 miles. So yeah, maybe 2k sooner is "excessive" but if you do it every oil change you can do it while you're already under the car and, more importantly, you don't forget about it.

 

Just thought that frequency was a little early, not that its a big deal. The grease certainly isn't the most expensive part of regular maintenance, and it's pretty quick to do anyway. Just thought it was interesting that they were recommending it sooner than I would have expected.

 

Ordered my Dynamic Driveline propshaft afew weeks ago and cant wait to install it on my 04. Already purchased all new hardware straight from the UK! Thanks for the tip.

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

 

Yup. Me too! Very happy with the quality.