I have a 2000 Disco II, 92k miles, front drive shaft has a bad u-joint.

I feel a little silly for having to ask this, but i need a little guidance because I cannot get my front DS out. I've gotten the 8 nuts off BUT the DS wedges between the transfer case and front differential. It definitely does not just fall out to as described in some of the R&R tutorials.

I do have the front on ramps (and suspect this is a large part of my issue). Does the car need to be level or on jack stands to do this job? Do I need to apply some upward pressure on the diff with the jack? Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the help. I've only had front wheel drive cars and admittedly, this is just a little bit of a different animal to me.

 

remove front/axle side 4 bolts and all 8 nuts. compress the shaft...it has a slip joint so squeeze the ends towards on another

 

yup, use a big screw driver or small pry bar collapse the shaft.

 

Thanks for the help guys! Got it this a.m.!