My point is that the center bearing goes pretty routinely with the OEM from what I have experienced and others have experienced before 100,000 miles. Mine went at 70,000. That seems like a really short lifespan for a driveshaft so I personally did not feel compelled to buy an OE part in this case, since it fails quickly (at least by non-LR standards).

 

Based on posts here I think most shafts last about 150k miles. But the bearing is not the failure punt, the support is. So really the shafts themselves are not the issue, is the rubber support that degrades. But aftermarket shafts have been proven over and over to have issues including joint failures. So its just sad is the OEM/GKN shafts themselves seem to hold up just fine were it not for the center support. And there are aftermarket solutions for a center support which is easier to install versus the entire bearing setup. With that said, these trucks are OLD and as such center supports will appear to fail at lesser miles if original simply from age of the rubber. Also I had a Mark VIII with many less years/miles before the center bearing support failed - which was another common issue on those vehicles. But on those the center support was easier to swap.