Land Rover Discovery 4 / LR4 Propshaft Replacement

If you’re experiencing vibration when driving at speed, but the vibration is not consistent with an unbalanced tyre, then you might have a worn rear prop shaft secure bearing bush.
The rear propshaft, instead of being a single piece is two pieces - to keep weight and rotating mass down - joined in the middle with a cv joint and supporting bearing.
Over time the rubber bush wears out, and the MOT test will pick it up as an advisory or fail.
In reality, the rear universal joint notches over time - this is probably what wears out the middle rubber bush - so the whole prop shaft needs replacing.
Some people only replace the middle bearing, but for all the bother (check KZbin for the how to) this seems like a waste of money and effort as the rear UJ is most likely worn.
The genuine LR part lasted 150k miles.
The job is not too tricky, the hardest part, apart from jacking up the car to get a four wheels off the ground, is removing the bolts on the rear UJ. If you have a strong impact wrench, that will probably help. I used a torque wrens set to the maximum (320Nm) and got there eventually, but I’m feeling it today!
Remove all bolts front and rear, E14 at the UJ, E12 at the transfer box, the prop won’t fall out until you take out the middle bracket bolts.
With the propshaft hanging, I gave the UJ at the rear a knock with a hammer and it started to move, don’t drop it on your head!
Front should drop out once you get the rear UJ out.
Reinstalling is the reverse. Last thing you do is the centre bearing bracket.
Start at the front, get some bolts but don’t tighten, then do the same at the rear. Snug up all bolts and then fit the centre bearing bracket bolts.
Torque up
Rear - 155Nm
Front - 73Nm
Centre bearing - 30Nm
Special tools
E14 and E12 socket
UJ 3/8” socket adapter to remove rear UJ bolts
Good luck!
#discovery4 #rearpropshaft #propshaft #lr #landrover #himoutdoors #discoverymaintenance

[@EvilTwinRC51]

Thank you. Was there any noise associated with this when the center bearing was failing?

[@Himoutdoors]

No noise but very noticeable vibration. I know some do start knocking. It depends how worn out the rubber bush is and how notchy the universal joint.

[@karlsanderson8127]

What's the procedure for jacking up a lr4 i would like to do the maintenance myself on it like brakes, tire rotation and the propshaft but scared incase i bugger up the air suspension settings because it takes a hissy fit when done wrong. Thanks

[@Himoutdoors]

It’s not difficult, but it’s a big heavy car with a lot of ground clearance, and when you jack it up, it (unhelpfully) thinks it’s off road and it tries to keep the wheels on the ground by lowering them even more. The best thing to do is take out the air suspension fuse which stops this happening. Get yourself a 3 tonne jack and jack stands (I got mine from Clarke) choose a jack with over 520mm of lift and get pumping! These cars are not difficult to work on. Brakes are easy peasy, like most modern cars. There’s a technique to adjusting the rear brake shoes, again plenty of videos on KZbin about those. As long as you jack up on the frame rails or the front crossbeam, it’s easy to get the jack stands in there. Good luck!

[@Mark-yl3ye]

How has your new prop performed? Any issues?

[@Himoutdoors]

All good, the speed wobble has gone. And there I was blaming the tyre fitter for not balancing the wheel properly….😬

[@stevem2266]

@@Himoutdoorswas it when you hit the brakes the wobble or just normal driving? I have an LR4 and around 50mph I gently hit brakes and steering wheel shakes. All new rotors and calipers. And pads.

[@Himoutdoors]

@stevem2266 some people find that this is caused by worn front arm bushings. Check the front lower arms, and if bushings are worn replace them. Good luck.