Tick, tick, tick, clunk, clunk, clunk, CLUNK… Ahh the unmistakeable sound of a univeral joint reaching the end of its life. Only 2 weeks in to getting the Patrol, this little devil decided to let me know it wasn’t happy.
Removing a prop shaft is usually a straight forward job. Usually. This one took:
1/4 can of WD40
3 grazed and bleeding knuckles.
A trip to Toolstation to buy a blowtorch to free off two seized bolts.
A badly bruised elbow and fingernail.
A ratchet strap.
A trip to Toolstation to buy a lump hammer to try (and fail) to separate the prop flange from the diff flange.
An inexplicable bleeding hole in the forearm.
Roughly four hours of faffing around, head scratching, frustration, swearing and sobbing.
One final do or die dumping of the clutch to finally break the corrosion seal between the prop and the diff.
Anyway, its off. And its a big sucker:
Good coating of WD40 left to soak overnight
A few wallops with a mallet and socket and the borked UJs are out.
Time to fit the replacements… but they don’t fit. Argh!
This is turning out to be a nightmare of a job.
Saturday 12th July
Took the propshaft to the UJ supplier, they confirmed the parts don’t seem to be right, but the part numbers all match up for my chassis number. Hmm…
Wednesday 16th July
UJ supplier confirms that the wrong parts were supplied to them (but in the correct boxes!). They are sourcing some correct UJs and will contact me when they arrive.
Thursday 17th July
Supplier has received the new UJs and have rebuilt my prop. It will be delivered tomorrow.
Friday 18th July
Prop shaft delivered and refitted. We’re back on the road!
Saturday 19th July
Clunk clunk clunk… this still isn’t right. Trip to a propshaft specilist confirms the UJs aren’t right, there’s too much end float so they move around between the yolks.
Monday 21st July
UJ supplier has no idea. No further help.
Friday 25th July
I order some shims 1/10th mm in thickness to hopefully space out the UJs. (think really thin washers to sit between the yolk and the UJ).
Saturday 26th July
Success! Finally I have a working propshaft again.
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