GKN Driveshaft

I've been watching this one. $360 shipped to the land of Green & Gold? That's a good price. Did it ship in a box? Looking at the label it looks like they slapped the label on it and shipped it un-boxed...

 

Thats not a bad price for a USA seller.

Mine came all wrapped up in cardboard and lots and lots of tape.

 

Mind sharing which UK vendor you bought from?
I like having a short list of good places to buy from.

All's well that ends well - sometimes.

I believe you are right in your complaint about the previous purchase.
I hope they see the facts and refund the rest of your $.

 

LR Direct, well established Rover dealer. Shipping is the only negative.

Lucky8 did refund the rest of my money after another message explaining I had not even taken it out of the box/bag and that it was the wrong part (did not match pictures).

 

Short day at work so I had time to get the shaft installed. Difficulty level, 2. Its really not difficult and pretty self explanatory. There are enough write-ups. The rear flangers was the only "issue". The four T14 bolts have thread lock on them so you need a bit of force to get them started then they come out easily. I was able to do so with a regular length ratchet driver. Then I used a chisel and hammer on the back side of the shaft flange lobs. They stick past the rear diff interface so its the perfect spot to tap them forward. Once there was a sufficient gap I just drove the chisel between and it came apart. Took only a couple minutes. I slacked nothing with penetrating oil before hand. When installing insert the rear flange and attach at least one center bearing bolt. Then get all those bits in. The shaft will comprise to get the front flange in place and bolted. Total time was about 1.5 hours. Next time, half that.

Comparing the original shaft to the new. Only one change I see with the forward CV cover. It's shorter.

 

Thank you DakotaTravler for doing tons of research on this topic. As you know, I copied you and ordered a GKN Shaft from the same place in the UK - www.lrdirect.com Ordered on 15 November, arrived 20 November (yesterday) - That's very fast, and there was even a weekend in there! I am in Madison, Wisconsin.

Put it on last night. The thing that took me the longest time was Torquing the Bolts to spec - The Drive Shaft kept turning. Just make sure you have a nice variety of socket wobblers and extensions. You may also want to use fresh nuts/bolts/washers for the aluminium shield that surrounds the center bearing area - I needed to find some very large diameter washers because a couple of the original bolt holes in this shield have 'grown' significantly due to corroding away. You don't want that thing rattling around under there, unless you want your various suspension noises to be disguised... Ha Ha.

I did a quick video, clearly not professional quality or technically complete or accurate - I just do this sometimes more for my own future reference. Link - https://photos.app.goo.gl/mbBeX3kkcHBJ7X2P7

Yes, I know I incorrectly said 'O-Ring' when I should have said 'C-Clip' or 'Snap Ring', and yeah, I said Knuckle when I should have said U-Joint. Don't shout at me please.

Cheers, Simon

 

I have some of those large flat washer they used. Two I think. But I think in my case even those wide things are not wide enough anymore. That shield loves to corrode on the underside. A new shield is about $80 I think.

 

I did this last weekend, although I went for replacing the bushing. My CV joint looked great, only expected wear for 300k miles, which was not really noticeable. For those looking in future, make sure you mark the thing before you take it apart as I have a bit of vibration accelerating over 70, which to me isn't really a problem as I don't really drive over 70. I completely forgot to mark it, also you must reassemble the spider joint and the ***** in the frontside, then insert the shaft and reseal. It is literally the only way. For lower mileage vehicles I would definitely recommend replacing the entire driveshaft. I probably spent 120$ altogether to buy the bushing (I rushed the shipping because I need the truck for work) and perhaps 6 hours to change it out. Whereas replacing the driveshaft would have been about 300$ and maybe an hours labor.

Now, that 6 hours could have been 3 but I had to source a torch because the bolts connecting the rear diff were impossible to remove without heating the area to almost melting point, that goes for all high milage LR3's, be prepared to have a torch on hand whether or not you're replacing the bushing or the entire driveshaft.

 

I thought of rebuilding mine. But figured if I did I would want to replace both CV joints and u-joint. When all was done it was just quicker/easier to replace the shaft. Maybe not cheaper, but not a significant difference in the end. I can see in years time that rebuilding may be the only option. I did not mark mine in any way and the shafts are balanced individually - meaning its not balanced as a whole shaft. So you may want to take a look at yours again.

 

But is the CV joint balanced individually? In every guide I read (2) it has said to mark the splines when you disassemble the CV. Regardless, I'm just happy everything still works okay, all 4 wheels move at once, a bit of vibration doesn't bother me.