The Rotoflex in my truck is original. The truck has seen a little off-road use, but not abuse of any kind. Some cracking is evident in the pic.

I guess I could replace it but I'm not convinced it's really needed. It's looked like this for years.

In terms of priorities it seems to me that preventive work on the fan clutch and water pump would be higher on the list. Coolant temps at idle now typically creep up to around 201° whereas they typically stayed in the mid 190s right after I installed the 180° thermostat a couple years ago. The fan clutch still feels as it should when I tested it but it seems to be less effective than it once was at idle. I know 201° at Idol is not a problem but it's indicative of a trend.

What do you guys think?

 

Mine looks similar and has looked that way for awhile now. I would buy one and put it in a compartment...so you have it.

 

It's cheap, and a quick and easy fix.
Why not?

 

Are you getting any vibrations? If not, leave it. If so, replace it or upgrade it to a u joint.

 

How many miles do you have on your truck? I'd replace it with a genuine LR part. Mine looked very similar to yours at 106K and I did not want to take a chance.

 

I'd focus on the cooling system, if it is worrying you. Maybe flush the system and replace coolant for starts.

Rotoflex looks like it's got more life in it. Hit it with some tire dressing, it will absorb the dressing and freshen up the rubber a bit.

Brian.

 

You really can’t tell till you pull it off. It’s rubber and the cracks blend in.

 

Thanks everyone, and Brian, I did a coolant flush a couple weeks ago. The truck now has 166,884 miles on the clock. No vibrations.

Perhaps I should have asked a different question - What Rotoflex failures have members seen?

I agree the Rotoflex is not an expensive part nor is it a difficult DIY task, but I'm the child of parents who married in the depths of the Depression and I grew up in a semi-remote rural area. We don't replace things just for the sake of replacing them. Usually. We do understand scheduled maintenance; that's why I did plugs and wires this weekend.

 

X1 ......... always useful to have as a spare. Rotoflex very rarely fail totally and you'd hear it long before that. Even if they do fail they don't do any damage like front driveshafts. IMHO your's looks like it has at least 10-20K miles still left in it. Check the depth of the cracks, if they are deep change it but if they are surface just run on for awhile.