The front drive shaft on my 04 Discovery lasted for just over five years and 74,000 miles. It has been subjected to off road conditions and submerged quite a few times.

I wanted to replace it a few weeks ago (prior to the 1900 mile round trip I just took to Florida), but wasn't able to get to it. It held out until the Rover knew I was home, at which point it started to make a clicking noise. I pulled the shaft and the centering ball seems to be bad. Haven't dissembled it to check for sure.

Those of you with a Tom Wood's shaft; is it possible to grease the centering ball w/o pulling the shaft if you use a longer needle nozzle? Maybe put a slight bend in a 6" needle so it can reach?

 

The Tom Woods drive shaft is not meant for daily driving and certainly not meant for highway use.

We have had alot of people on here report a vibration at expressway speeds as well as the driveshaft failing inside of a year because you need to drop it to grease it and they were not knowing of that or maybe not willing to do that every time.

I would just get yours rebuilt.

 

do a search, there was just a thread about the tom woods shaft and everyday driving

 

Thanks, but that's not the question (and I have read every thread on the subject). I just thought I remembered reading on this or another forum someone who said they had modified the grease attachment so they did not have to drop an end of the shaft to grease it. If it wasn't someone on this board, I'll find it on another.

 

I don't know about that Matt...I kind recall something like that, but I could be wrong.

 

Since I don't have a TW front propshaft I can't speak from personal knowledge, but I can't imagine it would be that hard to rig up something so you could grease it without dropping the gearbox end.

 

you MUST switch to a driveshaft like that of the pre 03-04 model with greasable u-joints. The driveshave you have has a non-greasable double cardon joint that will fail again. The heat from the exhaust boils the grease inside the joint, and causes the joint to fail, due to the lack of grease fittings.

PLEASE do a search on here, you will find when the joint does fail, it will pop a hole in the side of your transmission, which will then have to be replaced.

Find yourself a used front driveshaft with greasable u joints front and rear, from a 99-02 D2.

Again, search the forums for the testimonials, "angry owners tell the story"

 

In my best Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver: "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?"

This isn't a "Should I change my drive shaft thread" and I know the inherent issues with the Disco II drive shaft. I do appreciate the concern however.

When you have access to the grease fitting on the drive shaft, it is at the top of the joint (between the drive shaft and the floor of the car). When it is at the bottom, the opening closes up and you can't get to it. So you either have to pull one end of the shaft, or you rig some way to allow the grease gun needle to get to the fitting. At some point in the past year I thought I read a post from some one who had modified the needle attachment so they could grease it w/o removal.

I'm going to grease the joints and centering ball, but I don't like doing extra work and if I can modify a tool I am all about it. Apparently I read it on DiscoWeb or one of the other forums.

 

Have you tried calling Tom Woods about the mod? I do know that you can get several sizes and lengths for the grease pins, just not sure if you can bend it enough to get in and do any good.

PS- Kman, none of the D-2's had a greasable front shaft. Only D1's