...au contraire Disco Mike, I'm a pretty happy owner and don't blame the car at all, in any case your comment is true, but the title wasn't meant to be read in that manner... "life keeps throwing me lemons... because I make a damn good lemonade" ...no matter what, we'll get the problem solved and get back on the road again! ;-}#

 

It looks to me like you were extremely lucky. My truck's previous owner was slightly less lucky because when the shaft failed it just tore a large hole in the floor.

This isn't a lemon, it's a gift.

 

...that's right! I've called this last ordeal a #DivineIntervention, cuz my truck was kind enough to take me down to Key Largo and back (150 miles) and chose to give up as soon as I got out of the highway, and able to at least make it safely to a stoplight, away from traffic and at roughly half a mile from home, so yes, I'm even more grateful... you live, you learn! ;-}#

 

I'm so glad I'm getting my drive shaft replaced tomorrow morning! I realize everyone else already said it but......you are one lucky mother smucker!

 

Hello All... few days have gone by and I've been caught up in wedding plans and car troubles here and there... Anyways here is an update on the driveshaft situation, it was fixed! ...with the help of my repair shop we were able to get a hold of a used one in "supposedly" very good condition according to my mechanic... ended up paying $260 for the "complete" part and $80 for labor... fortunately no further damage to the transfer, just "battle scars" as someone mentioned previously... no leakage was found, so the liquid I saw must had been water from the AC... the difference is quite noticeable, the grinding noises went away, the trembling while accelerating also went away, the clank when shifting to R also went away, as well as the chirping or squealing noises while driving! ...now I'll now where to look in the future if these symptoms reappear... hopefully this used part will hold for quite sometime though... I'll snap some photos of the part and post for reference... Thanks a bunch guys for your insights and support! #RoverOn ;-]#

 

The shaft you have should hold up for a while. Like you said keep an eye and ear out on that shaft just in case. My suggestion is to save up and get a Tom Woods HD drive shaft. I've had mine for over 2 years or so with no problems just have to remember to grease it regularly which isn't very hard or time consuming.

 

X1 it looks like you've be lucky with this one, I've heard of trans cases smashed to pieces when the shaft has failed and flailed around. The shaft looks like it's never been serviced, changed or greased from new unfortunately but I may be wrong. Get a new shaft with grease zerks in the UJ's and it's a 1-2 hour job to change. It needs greasing regularly, say every 20K miles to be safe.

 

If you had the a/c on prior to stopping, it may have dripped condensate down (the drains spill out along side the transmission. If it was humid, it can make quite a puddle. Good luck

 

X1 we also get quite a puddle from the A/C on hot humid days both on the D2 and the RRS usually both sides under the passenger and drivers footwell/seat area.

 

I've been watching this thread and though "oh that sucks" then my driveshaft wet out and wow, it really sucks.