That must have been for one of your D1's though correct? I dont believe the D1 had ANY issues with the front drive shaft. Just the rear. Im surprised you ran a stock drive shaft with all the aftermarket HD upgrades though. The Rovers North description for their Proline drive shaft says that its a beefier design with bigger joints and better articulation angle. I imagine Tom Woods


Thanks for the link Fish. Justin at Lucky 8 is a great guy and a great business person. The main reason I have not invested much in Lucky 8 was loyalty I promised to Rovers North. I try to avoid Atlantic British when possible though sometimes their parts are considerably cheaper than same parts at Rovers North. For example the coolant hose kit... Its not listed in the RN catalog buts its around $400-$500. AB sells a kit for $269. Plus I really wish Lucky 8 would update the catalog on their website to a more user friendly layout.interface. AB is much better online catalog layout but RN has the best layout/interface by far. Plus the added diagrams which make it so much easier to identify parts you may not be familiar with.

That said Justin is great about coming up with new products that are VERY useful for our older trucks. Like the spare tire relocator that he sells. Without that unit I would have had to remove the spare tire mount, drill a bunch of new holes, install hardware just to fit larger tires. But the relocator literally bolts on and your done. simple and efficient and made with excellent quality. Justin also hooked me up with a free recovery strap during Winter Romp 2015. I wanted to interview him during the even but he left in a hurry because of a bad storm that was brewing.

If Justin also stocks Tom Woods shafts than I will buy the unit from him. My next shaft will not be a budget shaft. I want to upgrade it to a name I can trust, that will last alot longer and forget about it until the next oil change when its time to grease it.

 

Yes, on my D1. Actually the D1 front shaft from factory was borderline on whether it needed a DC shaft of not. Rover got around this (cheaped out) by installing the ujoints out of phase.
Lucky8 just redid their website, check it out.

 

So Rock Auto is processing my refund/store credit and they do stock the Moog 369 u-joints I need for my Proshaft LLC drive shaft. But they dont stock the 404-0 centering ball kit. Regardless I found a vendor who sells the kit but after examining the picture I question weather that is the correct centering ball kit. The bearing in the picture has a ring attached to it. I dont recall seeing any ring around the bearing I pulled out of the Proshaft LLC drive shaft. I also do not recall seeing anything like that on the bearing I pulled from the factory drive shaft either. See picture below:



Can anyone shed some light on this matter?

 

Time for an update.

Last time I checked in here I was working on the front drive shaft rebuild. Removed all the u-joints and centering bearing, stripped off the old paint and found a crack in the yolk. Rebuild went up in smoke.

In June 2016 I parked the truck at my mechanics shop and fly back up to Alaska for my fourth fishing season. Had high hopes for a great season and a nice chunk of cash in my pocket. Planned to upgrade the ECU with a chip. Invest in a Tom Woods multi cardan drive shaft, install a winch and upgrade the rotors and pads to EBC. Unfortunately this years salmon run was very bad. No 16 hour shifts and no fat paychecks. Just not as much fish this year. You win some and you lose some. Seems every other year is a bad year for Alaskan salmon and last year was a big year for us so...

Im returning to NH on the 17th and will be working on a small lobster boat based out of southern Maine. I have afew matters to take care of first but will continue with the build within afew weeks. First line of business is a new drive shaft and tires. Im switching over to BFGoodrich KO'2's. The retreads have searved me well and Ive yet to experience any failures but mentally I still have doubt about their reliability. Cant go wrong with the 3 ply sidewalls of the KO'2's. I also need to visit Land Rover in Peabody Mass to pick up a new key fob/blade assembly plus get my current key fob reprogramed. If the lobster season brings in enough money than I may invest in the winch and a ARB fridge/freezer combo as well as the dual battery and on board air compressor system. Also decided to go for a 2nd full size spare tire/wheel so that means 6 KO'2's and another Style 2 wheel is in order. Will be mounted on the roof. Im also removing the 2nd row seating for good. Need the extra space for gear. I also need to look at having the rear most windows removed and paneled up and painted over. In England there was an optional commerical van package for the D1 and D2 - the rear most windows came panaled up from factory. Not sure if I can source panels or if it will be a custom fab job. Once complete Ill make mounting brackets on the inside for mounting fire extingushers and other bulky ****. Plus it will give me more privacy inside the truck during camping trips.

The truck is running fine, no misfires or anything electrical but I do have a vibration at 70 mph. Need to diagnoise the issue. Myechanic thinks it may be the retreads.

Ill update in afew weeks. Hope everyone is doing well. I hear its hot as hell in New England... Average temps in Seward AK have been mid to high 50's. We had afew high 60's though. Lots of rain. Still no snow.

 

So you didn't fall in!? That's good to hear.
2nd spare, eh? You still planning on driving to Alaska? You may want to invest in a good tire repair kit instead of putting another 100lbs on your roof creating more drag and a higher COG.
Removing windows and welding in panels seems like a lot of work and is pretty final. You could grab a can of black Plasti-Dip and paint the inside of those windows and achieve pretty much the same thing. If you don't like it or change your mind just peel it off. You may also find you don't like the reduced visibility of blacking/blocking out your windows.

 

May have taken a dip or two...
Yes a second full size spare but probably weighs closer to 40lbs than 100lbs. And you must be refering to one of these kits which I already have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The rear most windows offer very little visibility to me, especially with how high my truck is compared to most sedans. Its a blind spot area anyways. Cant be as bad as someone fitting a over sized wheel/tire to the rear door that blicks out the majority of the rear windshield. The idea behind panels is so I can bolt **** to them. Cant very well mount a fire extinguisher or a rifle to a plasti-diped glass window. Plus Ill be fitting a small air mattress back there so the extra privacy will be useful.

 

Tire alone weighs in at 49 pounds for a 235/85 BFG AT add 20 or so pounds of rim and you are in the 70 pound range easily

I hate roof rack stored spares such a pain in the ****. Sucks that fishing wasn't all you had hoped. Always hope for next season

 

I figured somewhere in the realm of 40lbs-70lbs but 100lbs was a crazy exaggeration. I imagine it would be a pain in the *** to store and remove from the rack but cant be any worse than strapping down a kayak... I watched a bunch of videos on youtube from people recording their experences driving the Alcan highway- a second spare tire seems like a good idea.

Thats fishing I guess. Im hoping the lobster season fares better.

 

My tires/wheels are 87lbs each, so yeah it was a little exaggeration.

 

As ArmyRover pointed out Im running 235/85R16 wheels/tires. 70lbs is a more reasonable guess for "my" wheels/tires. 70lbs on the roof vs 100lbs... big difference. The only question is weather or not the KO'2's are available in this unique size...