From reading and viewing pics it seems the common failure is the flex joint in the cardan joint. I was going to replace the shaft parts with greasable u-joints but you still can’t grease the flex joint. Is there a replacement yoke that has a grease point?

 

Yep, there are rebuild kits with grease zerks or you can buy a complete new shaft for the front complete with zerks already installed. The guys on the forum here will give you the info on the best quality and deals in the US.

 

Here are the parts from Rock Auto that I used: Percision (Moog) 344 u-joint (x3) and a Percision 617 centering ball kit

I read these two posts:
https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...rebuild-20509/

www.discovery2.co.uk / Workshop :- front and Rear propshaft

The ball joint large c-clamp was rented for free from Autozone after I returned it. The ball joint large c-clamp tool can bend the u-joint flanges if you are not careful. I ended up beating them out with a 17mm impact grade socket and a vice. I could not get the center ball bearing out of the cardan joint, so i paid a machine shop $20.

 

Correct me if I’m wrong, how would you grease the centering ball as maintenance? May as well just use sealed u-joints too if you can’t grease the centering ball yoke.

 

I've heard of people using a grease needle. Evidently You've got to drop that end of the shaft to do it. I've never done so.

 

I've never had the centering ball be the issue. All the front drive shafts I've seen that exploded and took out transmissions or were lucky enough to just get away with a dented cat pipe the U-Joints were either rusty, or completely worn down due to lack of lubrication then the drive shaft failed in an epic fashion.

Get yourself a fully grease-able front drive shaft from 125-200.00 and lube it every oil change and you should get years of service out of it.

 

When I had the driveshaft in my truck rebuilt 7½ years ago one of the long-gone, old timers here was recommending NEAPCO 1-0005 u-joints and the NEAPCO 7-0081NG centering ball. The NG stands for non-greasable.

The member was Tom Rowe, whose user name is antichrist (for the license plate number on one of his seven Rovers). Tom knew his stuff and was unfailingly patient with we nitwits here. His last post was Sept 2015. I hope he is well.

If Tom recommended a non-greasable centering ball that's good enough for me. That said, greasable versions are available that require a needle-type grease gun fitting.