Hi,
had some vibrations in the drivetrain, traced it down to the front universal joint having to be replaced (btw. who in hell designed the rear flange of the front propeller shaft to be behind the crossmember, making the task unbelievably, annoyingly long). Changed the universal joint, checked all others, they were fine.

Now, only some weeks later, again vibrations and the same (new) UV has play again, much more than the last time !! And the rear one of the front shaft too !!
How can that happen so fast ? Did I do something wrong ? Checked RAVE but they do not cover that change. They were filled with grease allright.

Only thing that comes to mind is that I was driving a lot in snow in these weeks, so a lot of ABS and traction control, does that bring unwanted, destoying vibrations into the drive train that kill the UVs? Or just shitty quality UVs ? But they should last longer than some weeks....!

Yokes worn?

i have uni problems too, but mine are because the rover is lifted. i have found another uni that they use in lifted disco's, it's supposed to be better as it has bigger internals, it's all to do with how its machined apparently
Gkn Hs 18Mmj 75/27
TVC10001 OHD
i haven't tried them but was going to order 2 just to see if they are any good, 65$ each plus postage in Australia. has anyone ever used these or have another brand that has good longevity previous brand was Hardy Spicer 30$ ea
https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/au/tvc100010g-universal-joint-hd-grsr-gkn-hs-18mm-j-75x27.html

The yokes seemd fine, everything went in smoothly.
Just remembered I did change both ends and they now both failed. Japco for € 12 each, you reap what you sow......damn.
Is there a better way to remove the front propellor shaft except the tedious milimeter by milimeter with two spanners technique ? remove crossmember ?

remove from diff first use a 3/8 socket and a flexi coupling, also tie up tail shaft so you dont have to do two things at once. this is how i do it.
PS you should mark everything before removing anything.

The UJs haven't changed since the original Defender even though the part nunber has changed and superseded multiple times. I was given a set of 4 GKN ones that had originally been bought for a Disco 1 and they are identical in every way to the latest TVC100010.

I've seen complete propshafts with country of origin as India advertised as Spicer.....

have you used them, how did they last, are they worth the extra dollars, is the question im asking.
the write up on the uni's stated there is a difference in the roller size which increases the surface area within the uni.

Removing the diff side ist easy but the transfer case side takes sooo much longer...I do it with two spanners (one 9/16 and one 14mm, that combination seems to work best) but space is so confined behind the crossmember it is a pain to remove the bolts.
And why on earth are the bolts (on the rear of the front shaft) fitted so they cannot be removed ? The heads don´t get better everytime you work on them and if they are worn there is no way of replacing them....that is really a mystery to me. Or has some previous owner fitted them the wrong way after rebuliding the transfer case...?? That I really cannot understand from an engineering/mechanic point of view....^^
I really hate to say this but working on my other cars (both Mercedes W124, so roughly same age) is sooo much easier, there seems to be a different engineering logic behind them...
The RR is really laborious to work on, it´s like the final enemy in a videogame :-D. But still I can´t get away from it :-)
Hope I am not offending anyone....

The bolts are fitted into the output flange from behind so they can't fall out. The flats on the bolt head should bear against the inside shoulder on the flange so you shouldn't need to hold them with a spanner, they shouldn't be able to turn anyway. The same at the other end where the nuts are on the inside, the flats should stop them from turning so the bolts can be spun in without needing a spanner on the back.

If that is true then I have made myself A LOT of unnecessary work....! I´ll check.

But at the front end I can remove the bolts, they come from the rear and the nuts are on the front end where the diff is....

RAVE says "NOTE: Fit bolts with heads toward transfer box and away from differential" I found that weird because there is no way to remove bolts on the rear end anyway and there is no way you can mount them from the front on the front end.....
But RAVE also says "NOTE: Raise 1 front road wheel and rotate propeller shaft as necessary to gain access to all fixings." - but I have to raise both wheels of one side to do that....

The only way you can change the bolts to the other way round is to slacken off the flange so you can pull it away from the transfer case or diff. You can rotate the propshaft with just one wheel off the ground but you will be turning against the viscous coupling in the transfer case. It will turn but will be stiff although it does mean that the propshaft won't be turning while you try to undo the bolts/nuts.

I just put the car on four axle stands when I did mine. If the bolt or nut at each end doesn't lock against the flange flats, then they are worn.

Also, if you buy the correct tool, then they come off really easily, provided you turn the prop the the best angle.

9/16 Land rover Propshaft Socket

If you can get a 14mm socket on one end or the other, they are worn as 14mm is smaller than 9/16th inch so shouldn't fit. RAVE says to always replace the Nyloc nuts too. I replaced the bolts at the front with hex head Allen bolts that a local fasteners supplier was able to match to the original bolts and new Nyloc nuts. If you do this, remember they are Imperial size not Metric.

The propshaft socket tool looks good, will try to get one here in Germany, not quite so easy.
Will try to get some heavy duty joints and some new nuts and bolts, also the tool looks good.

But if I jack up only one front wheel there is no way I can get it to turn....It´ll have quite some free play from the diff but turning it...no.
Does that mean anything ?

If you jack up one front wheel, then with the handbrake on and the gearbox in neutral you ought to be able to turn the wheel very slowly against the viscous coupling.

If you can't turn it at all, the viscous coupling is seized and this will wreak all sorts of mayhem upon your front axle.

I tried it with gear in neutral and handbrake off but still there was no way to turn the wheel. And I am quite big and strong....maybe I didn´t try the "very slowly".....Is there another way to check the VC ? Actually I just wanted to change the UJs....!

I found and ordered a tool from amazon UK and have found UJ in heavy duty from GKN "Har Spicer" for 50€ each or Britpart Heavy duty for 40€.
But before I order them I would like to know if the VC is seized....

For the VC Test: dies the Gearbox have to be in neutral (N) or the Transfer Case in neutral (Insert fuse as when towing) ??

It doesn't matter if you are checking the front. The rear output from the TC will be locked, either because the gearbox is in Park or the parking brake is on but you should still be able to turn the front slowly against the viscous coupling. A seized VC could also explain why you have worn out new UJs very quickly.

I'm sure there was LR info somewhere about checking the viscous, but cannot find it. However with one front wheel jacked up, you should be able to slowly turn the front prop using a pry-bar inserted into the UJ spider ?

That said, an extra set of axle stands to put all 4 wheels in the air is cheap enough, and much easier on your back & arms.

The official method is with the front propshaft off, you put a socket on the nut holding the output flange on, apply a certain amount of torque and it should turn so may degrees within so many seconds. However, this assumes that the car is up in the air on a 4 post lift, something most of us don't have in our garage unfortunately.

I've also seen somewhere but can't find it now where you have just one front wheel off the ground, take the centre cap off the wheel so you can put a socket on the hub nut and stand on the end of a breaker bar to try to turn it. It should turn a certain number of degrees in so many seconds but as I can't find the details can't tell you what. However, if you try it and it will move slowly, the VC is OK, if it doesn't, it's seized.