Really short post. I did my rear shaft last year and its been holding up just fine. Neighbor managed to get his center bearing hung up on a stump and we had to pull another shaft from a spare truck. As a result, I can now pull and install a shaft in under an hour and figured I would share a few quick tips.

1: Get the truck in level ground, of course. With the rear shaft out there is no park position engagement of the trans, the transfer box will hold the front wheels in position. Block the front wheels form any movement!
2: Get the suspense up to extended off-road height, or even super extended (when in extended, foot on brake and hold UP on suspension switch until you hear a chime (about 2 seconds)).
3: Raise the rear end at the diff until both rear wheels are off the ground.
4: Remove ONE center support bolt. 13mm. And start the second. Keeping one in helps you manage the shaft better.
5: Remove ALL front shaft bolts at the transfer case.
6: With wheels up and the front bolts removed, you can spin the shaft by hand and get the rear bolts into position for removal.
7: See pic below, but a 1/2" x 12" extension works well to thread through the u-joint and help lock the shaft in place.
8: Reposition 12"" extension as needed to lock shaft and remote the four bolts. We found that an impact wrench, rated at 300lbs, did not work to remove the bolts. A three foot breaker bar made quick work.
8a: If you wish, you can always raise up the rear end, position the bolts, then lower the wheels a bit to prevent the shaft form spinning.
9: Use a regular hammer or such to hit the four "ear lobs" on the shaft in a forward direction, rotate the shaft often to get it to decouple straight out.

Thats pretty much it. I removed two shafts and so far this was the quickest way. And with the rear end up, its pretty easy to rotate the shaft for aligning the front bolts.

Pic: Shows an extension ran through the joint. The extension then braces on the rear diff support preventing rotation. You can see what the impact had done to the bolts before I decided to jump in and see what I could do. Breaker bar worked well, just not a lot of room for a long one.

 

How the hell did your neighbor manage to do that without first dragging the rig along other surfaces??? Does he/she have any (aftermarket) skid plates?

 

I tend not to ask anymore. This was the pic he sent. He just somehow nailed the center bearing support square on with a tree stump. And like I said, I tend not to ask cause the replacement came from his first LR3 which is very much being parted out right now altering being totaled for another mistake he made.

 

Geez....sounds like he is an awesome driver!

(don't tell 'im I said that!)