V6 propshaft

[tozerman]

Over the winter one of my planned jobs will be to replace both UJ's in the propshaft which is a fairly straight forward job in itself but what I'm concerned about is do I need to have it rebalanced
or will it be ok to just change the uj's themselves, a local engineering company told me that the machine needed to balance driveshafts etc are very expensive, I have aproached reco-prop who will also balance it for me but they are not local to me, anyone any ideas ?
Cheers.....Tony..

[zombeh]

As long as you make sure you put it back together with all the parts the same way round they came off it shouldn't need balancing (assuming it was fairly well balanced to start with)

[phillpot]

Did mine while ago no problems but worth marking both ends in relation to the shaft so everything goes back together EXACTLY the same !

[steve j]

Only replacing the u/j`s, it doesn`t need balancing. Did mine a couple of years ago and it`s still fine

[tozerman]

Thanks for your help guys.
Cheers.....Tony..

[Barkychoc]

There's a good article in this months (nearly last months now) practical classics about prop shaft UJ replacement.

[tozerman]

Barkychoc said:

There's a good article in this months (nearly last months now) practical classics about prop shaft UJ replacement.

Thanks Chris, I've got that issue, got it specifically to show me how to do it properly, Imanaged to get the propshaft off last night, thanks to Mark(mep12345)for telling me how to do it by lowering the diff it worked a treat although it is a bloody tight fit all the same,all I need to do now is to remove the UJ's themselves and find a local motor factors that keep replacements in stock.
cheers.....Tony..

[tozerman]

Latest update, managed to find a local motor factors with a suitable replacement UJ's (landrover defender)
but either I just cocked it up or it was a very slighty different size, anyway I'm now just trying to find someone local who can do it for me, might even get it rebalanced.
The article in Practical Classics made it sound fairly easy but trust me it is very tricky, three hands and all that. My advice pay a bit more and get someone elsse to do it.
Cheers.....Tony..

[Jed-S]

There are 2 sizes of UJs on the Defender - 75mm and 82mm but I doubt that you'd have the big one. I replaced mine last month and it was a simple job. The caps are a very tight fit in the yokes but provided you have a vice and some 2p sized washers to push them in with it is a simple job.

[phillpot]

Could be one (or more) of the needle rollers has fallen over, this will stop the bearing caps going in far enough to get circlips back in ?
Haven't seen the article,may have suggested this anyway, but I find using a socket thats just smaller diameter than caps ideal for pushing them in.

Its all a matter of practice !

[ketvrin]

I have to say that although it took a herculean effort to remove the prop-shaft in the first place (I didnt know about Marks trick then) I paid the experts to replace the propshaft, partly because i also wanted the balancing checked and partly because i have had problems replacing UJ's before.

I paid Commercial Propshafts in Gateshead the princely sum of £38.00 for the new UJ and balancing and they took less than an hour... money well spent IMHO

there must be a commercial operation in your area that can provide a similar service... google it ?

good luck

K

[tozerman]

Bit of an update, after struggling to finad someone local to me to replace the UJ's I contacted Bailey Morris in Huntingdonshire and agreed for them to do the work, a figure was agreed to supply and fit 2 UJ's and then rebalance the whole lot for £158 inc VAT . I got there this morning with old bits in hand and was advised that it's easier and cheaper to just get a brand new propshaft made, I agreed and it was ready a couple of hours later.Here is the finished article.







Hopefully now when I get the car on the road that annoying vibration I get at speed of 70mph or higher will go, there was definatley excess play on the old one so fingers crossed.Here is a link to their website
http://www.baileymorris.co.uk/

If anybody wants my old bits (minus UJ's) then pm me through my profile and for a few beer tokens they can have them.
Cheers.....Tony..