Picked up an '04 Disco HSE with 60k. Looking to pick up a front drive shaft. Comparing TW's for $398, GBR's for $375 and BP of Utah - new product offering to LRonly forum members for $350 (DK why they aren't offering here). Only specs on the 3 are from BP - 2" diameter & 120 wall DOM shaft. Spicer 3010 center greaseable U-joint. Long travel slip/spine. Heavy duty welding. Dual balancing. I'm not a gearhead so need help comparing these or any others. Thanks in advance.

 

I'll tell you this - my truck came with an aftermarket shaft (Tom Woods, I think) that I replaced the joints on because it was vibrating and making me nervous. Turns out it was out of balance. I went into Dynamic Driveline today, and those dudes are super nice. They balanced my driveshaft for $45 and had it done in an hour.

I'd buy from them in a heartbeat. Just google them for a phone number; they're in Little Rock.

 

Rebuilt the driveshaft on my 99 this weekend with precision parts. Would have been a breeze if I had a vice, but I went the hammer and a tailgate route. I used a dull chisel and was able to just break out the centering ball and knocked the new one in with a 1 1/16in socket.

Wish I woulda known dynamic driveline would balance for $45 or I woulda taken mine by there. Even without it balance though I don't have near the vibration I did with the 4 broken and needle less caps I took off of it.

 

TW and GBR both use DOM tubing.
I asked what "heavy duty welding" is on the BP one but my question was ignored (I was a pipe weldor by trade and have no idea what it means relative to propshafts).
I'm pretty sure there is no such thing as a Spicer 3010 u-joint, probably means 1310 series u-joints.
I notice the BP one uses the Blue Seal u-joints which Spicer recommends against for off-road use (not sure why Spicer says that).

One thing to note about the TW. If you break a properly maintained u-joint and it damages the propshaft TW will repair or replace it under warranty, in addition to the u-joint. A pretty good warranty.
Tom Wood's Custom Drive Shafts - GOLD SEAL Universal Joint
I have no idea if the other two do.

 

Haha yeah, the Tatton drive shaft or whatever with "heavy duty welding". Never did quite figure out what that was. More slag?

 

Found something interesting on my D2 front drive shaft. The single joint at the front is greaseable but the double cardon ones are not. Is this typical? I have the greaseable kit in hand so it can rebuild the rear portion.

 

That was the factory configuration for the first 4 years of production. I find it hilarious the cognitive dissonance necessary for people to simultaneously think that the factory engineers "knew what they were doing" with the factory thermostat design and "are idiots" for not putting grease zerks in the double cardon joint. No, they were generally idiots repeatedly, over and over on so many many decisions....

 

I will speculate that this is the first time the term "cognitive dissonance" is been used on this site. Well done. 🙂