Front Prop U/J Replacement

GeoffNorthWales · Aug 15, 2014

Hi,
After discovering the vibration that my 2004 Navara was suffering from was caused by the front prop rear u/j having gone up the spout, today I have removed the front propshaft ready to fit 2 new u/j's but I cannot seem to find a circlip to get them appart so any idea how to go about this ?
Cheers
Geoff

chris vince · Aug 15, 2014

They are crimped in mate.
When mine go (very unlikely now!) I intend to smash the old ones out, smooth off the housings and fit new ones, then lock them in place with a spot or two of MIG weld.
I say mine will never wear out, because I have fitted free wheeling hubs, these stop the front diff and therefore prop rotating, the savings in friction and drag mean they will (and probably have by now), paid for themselves.

GeoffNorthWales · Aug 15, 2014

Thanks for the reply, looks like some brute force is required lol

bembo449 · Aug 16, 2014

just get a 2nd hand one , the meverick / terrano ones also fit so you have plenty of choice

Tony · Aug 17, 2014

try Milners i got mine some years ago and can't remember how much. made by gkn
Tony

GeoffNorthWales · Aug 17, 2014

I have bought some from Milners but cannot get the old ones out as there are no circlips to remove, as in an earlier reply they seem to have been crimped in

2.5TD · Aug 18, 2014

I recently changed mine out due to a vibration at 50mph which disappeared when the front propshaft was removed. I just tapped them out with a hammer and suitably sized socket. Unfortunately the ujs weren't the problem, it was the sliding section in the middle of the propshaft that had some play in it so I'm fitting some manual locking hubs as soon as they arrive from Milners.

chris vince · Aug 18, 2014

IMHO free wheel hubs are the best thing ever for the vast majority of Navara owners who like me only use 4x4 infrequently.
They completely eliminate the rotation and therefore drag and friction from the front diff and prop, meaning the already weak prop will last forever, the truck will drive more like a car and as I have said before with the savings in fuel they WILL pay for themselves, I regularly get 37mpg, but I am currently running an experiment with a cheap 'across the counter' additive trying to up this even more, if it works I will write it up.

2.5TD · Aug 19, 2014

Just to mention Geoff the clips aren't like normal circlips, the look like C clips and are located on the inside of the caps. You can only see them when the propshaft is out.

GeoffNorthWales · Aug 20, 2014

Thanks very much for your great post, I now know were the clips are, so will have a go at changing them over later

Front Prop U/J Replacement

GeoffNorthWales

chris vince

GeoffNorthWales

bembo449

Tony

GeoffNorthWales

2.5TD

chris vince

2.5TD

GeoffNorthWales

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