My driveshaft appears to be in good shape, at least outwardly. My question is, if the U-joints have grease fittings, does that mean it has been replaced or rebuilt? Or do the stock ones have a grease fitting on them also? I just want to know if I should spend the money on a new one or a rebuild??? Thanks very much in advance for all your help.

 

Do all of the u-joints have grease zerks, or just the one closest to the diff?

 

I'll have to take another look at it, I'll probably have it back on the lift to change the oil this weekend. At that milage though (130,000 when I bought it), I would suspect that it's probably been done at some point. It's a dealer maintained truck, would the dealer replace the junk one with the same thing if it were coming undone when it went in for service? Or did Land Rover themselves rebuild them or upgrade them?

 

The dealer would only have replaced it with an OEM drive shaft, which would have only a grease fitting on the front joint. The two rear joints (prone to failing) would not have grease fittings, had it been replaced by a dealership. Land Rover never upgraded the shaft to include grease-able joints on the rear.

"At that milage though (130,000 when I bought it), I would suspect that it's probably been done at some point." *

*That is a dangerous assumption to make! The only way to tell for sure is to get under it, and count the grease fittings. If you only count one, consider a rebuild with three grease-able joints as must-be-done maintenance!

 

Yeah the dealer is only going to replace with the original crappy part unfortunately. The only way to know for sure is to crawl under the truck and look for grease fittings.

 

Thanks guys, all your help is appreciated more than you know. I'll take a look at it as soon as possible!!! Does anyone know if there's any specific milage these things go? Or is it just whenever it gets around to failing, it goes ahead and does so? Any noise noticable... Pre-failure?

 

Some times youll get lucky and itll chirp a little bit next time its a big bang and theyre toast. Theres no specific milage they go its just luck of the draw.

 

If it has a grease fitting on all 3 u-joints it's been rebuilt. At some time in the past
That in no way means it's fit for service. A greasable u-joint that isn't greased properly is worse than a sealed u-joint.
Given how often I see misinformation on how propshafts should be greased I'd rebuild it, regardless.

 

Considering I will be greasing my drive shafts later today when I change my oil, what is your take on the proper way to do it?

 

I may not have the right answer on this but when putting the grease you should see the new grease coming out. Lord Morpheus can correct me if I am wrong but that is the way I have done it for the past 20 years or so.

On mine after I bought it I found out the dealer had replaced the drive shaft only about 6K before so I am waiting a while before I do it. I do check it frequently though.