Land Rover Repair: u joints, rotoflex, autozone

Question
hi, i luckily came across this site when looking for an answer about u joints. ive been hearing a lot of problems about u-joints going bad at around 60k, my disco is at 57k. i wanted to know if i could look myself and see if the joints are ok. or if i could take it to an autozone or something. i have been hearing a small rattling during excelleration only in first gear though. and people with this problem said it starts with a rattling. thanks a lot

Answer
Hi Bill,

You could crawl under your Disco and look to see if the rubber is not cracked. You could look around the U joint bolts to see if they are bent, loose or shifted.  

Here is a website that has an example of what to expect under a Disco.  Something to consider if your Disco has this problem.

www.discoweb.org

Select TECH webpage and look for "Rotoflex to U joint conversion" in the available topics.

Best of luck,

JohnMc.

NB:  The only problems I have heard is that the rubber flex coupling wears down and then can vibrate.  You can either learn to replace it or remove the entire driveshaft and change to a standard U joint method.