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 YouTube 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