For anyone wondering what are some signs your front DS might be going bad I have some pics of mine to share. The slip joint was also seized and was pushing the rest of the drivetrain around instead.

 

wow. That was almost not a lot of fun.

 

Wow indeed. Looks like you caught it just in time. I would suggest that anyone needing a new stock driveshaft take their factory unit to a driveshaft shop and have it rebuilt. The stuff coming out of China is poor quality and won't last, I speak from experience. The alternative is Tom Woods or GBR Utah, which you should look into for offload or HD/lifted applications, but you should be able to get the factory shaft rebuilt for considerably less. Get greasable u-joints and a greasable center bearing in the double cardon. And it's also worth requesting u-joints that are greasable from the ends of the joints rather than the middle because it's much easier to grease in situ. The center bearing is tough regardless, but better have one PITA than all four.

 

Would one of these be helpful

 

Yeah it was pretty close. I already have a medium duty unit from Lucky8 here so I'm going to throw that in. I may rebuild the factory unit either as a back up or to put back in and keep the L8 one for back up duty. Just glad it didn't explode on my way home the day I bought it.

 

Yep, necessary for most of the center bearing fittings I've seen. Even with the needle valve fitting it's still tough to get to the center of the joint with it installed. I guess if you have to remove the shaft to get at that one, it doesn't matter where the other fittings are located. I ground down the edges of a pair of 9/16" ring spanners so they fit more easily over the bolts and dropping the front shaft is about a 15 min job now.

 

Lucky8 sells ones fully serviceable and supposedly made in Germany - I bought that - once a year few pups of grease and it seems to be holding fine after 45k miles

 

Where does it say Made in Germany? Even German parts aren't made in Germany any longer, Lemforder is made in China and Meyle is made in Turkey. I bought two driveshafts from Lucky8 and neither one says made in anywhere, and neither one has a greasable centering ball. I'm not intending to dis Lucky8, I've bought plenty of stuff from them and Erik has been a great help, but after 35k the non-greasable centering bearing in one of my trucks starting screaming so I had to remove the front shaft and drive 600 miles home with the center diff locked. For the $200 bucks I paid, I think the money is better spent on rebuilding the factory shaft.

 

Here is the one i got: https://lucky8llc.com/collections/di...ont-driveshaft

For whatever it's worth​​​​​​ it does have "made in germany" stamped on it. All joints and shaft are greaseable you just need to install your own zirc fittings

 

The one I got 35k miles ago has the zerks in center of the joints, not in the caps (but at least it came with them), the centering ball is not greasable, it's not stamped made in anywhere, and it vibrated so badly I had to have it balanced by a driveline shop. I recently lifted the truck and that's when the problems began, there was no provision for greasing the centering ball so I opted for a custom driveshaft. The Lucky8 website states that lifted trucks should go that route but I just don't think aftermarket is the best approach in a stock configuration. I'm also somewhat suspect of the Made In Germany claim so I'd love to see a pic of yours to prove me wrong. I've been buying German parts for German cars for over 30 years, and none of them come from Germany anymore. The quality sucks to the point that it's getting scary. But I'm not calling out Lucky8, it's certainly possible that they are made in Germany, mine does not appear to be and is not marked as such. My only point here is that I will rebuild factory driveshafts going forward rather than buy aftermarket for roughly the same money. Just my opinion. The factory used sealed u-joints which are not greasable but they are a wear item, and you need to have them changed. Sealed joints are not necessarily a bad thing since they keep road grime out, but they are not a "last-forever" part and IMO what Land Rover put in these trucks 20+ years ago is a better part than most of what you will get today, unless you go for high-end aftermarket.