For those of you who have heard of broken Land-Rover half-shafts and want to avoid the ordeal, here are a few tips which will almost certainly prove useful. Firstly, it might be well-advised to bear in mind that if you own a Land-Rover for long enough the chances are pretty good that you will break an axle (half-shaft) sooner or later. While within the scope of the typical urban/suburban setting this will probably constitute little more than a minor inconvenience, there are other considerations which might be well to bear in mind. If you lose a half shaft on a busy urban main road there is the chance that you may suddenly find yourself in dangerous straits, possibly for instance by virtue of not being able to engage front drive quickly enough to drive free of harms way expeditiously.

The implications of losing a half-shaft in the outback, however, could very well have much more dire consequences. For example, should you be a day's walk, or more, from civilisation, either in the desert in the height of the summer heat, or find yourself (and possibly your family) deep in the woods in the bitter cold of winter, there is the possibly that a safe return to civilisation may be very difficult. Oh, you say, but I can drive out on the front axle. Well and good unless, you have broken that axle on the low side of a steep ravine, or perchance you should encounter very heavy going somewhere between you and civilisation on the way home. For this reason, we at British Northwest Land-Rover Company urge our clients who are contemplating either long or very arduous journeys to remove their rear half-shafts at least once every six months, and check them for signs of wear.

Typically half-shafts break on the inboard end, and with absolutely no advance warning. This caveat also should be expanded to include inspection after virtually every instance of intensive or arduous off-road adventure, even if stress of the drive line is not suspected. The typical report given by our customers upon breakage of an axle reads something like this: "I was just on my way to work this morning, not stressing the drive train at all, when suddenly I heard a "CLUNK"!! What did I do wrong?? Well, probably the only thing which you may have "done wrong" was not to have checked the half shafts regularly. While the process may take an hour or two, done carefully, it is well worth the time invested.

To carry out the check, simply remove the six bolts which secure each drive member to the wheel hub. It will probably prove necessary to pry the hub (drive member) off with a large screwdriver or crow bar. DO NOT use a hammer or you will deform the driving member and it will subsequently leak! Gently pry off the driving member and remove it clear of the hub, along with the half-shaft. Then clean all parts in parts cleaning solvent. Having done this, first inspect all [12] of the driving member bolts for possible stretching. This can be found by looking carefully at the point where the threads meet the shoulder of the bolt. One can actually feel the stretched bolt to be narrower in diameter at this point, but the visual inspection can require very subtle scrutiny. Look for threads that are spaced further apart here than the threads at the end of the bolt. This is quite common, and the bolts should be replaced if stretched threads or bolt shank are evident. Now inspect the inboard splines for twisting, which is characteristic of a half shaft which is about to break. Typically the splines are twisted, very subtly, but the half-shaft may have been twisted more than a few times at this point. If one axle is found to be weak and the other appears to be in good condition, it might prove the better part of wisdom to have that axle's inner splines checked at a machine shop by magnafluxing. This service can be had for $5.00 to $10.00, and may reveal hidden cracks!

Alternatively one may wish to replace both half-shafts. Approximately 65% of our customers who decline replacement of the half-shafts as a pair return within a short time for "the other axle". If both are replaced simultaneously, then the odd shaft can be kept as a spare. Essentially what we are attempting to avert at this point is the possibility of having to remove the differential to extricate the broken off stub of the failed axle, because whenever a half-shaft breaks there is the inevitable problem of the numerous metallic shards of the disintegrated axle which find their way into the inner workings of the (expensive!) differential. You may be able to make it home on front axle drive, but at what cost to the balance of the machinery at the opposite end of the Land-Rover?!!

Back to our inspection. If both axles appear to be good, then clamp each one individually in a sturdy bench vise and, after first loosening the castellated nut at the end of the shaft under the hub cap, attempt to rotate the driving member to determine the extent of wear at the outboard splines. If any radial lash (play) is felt, the castellated nut and the driving member should be removed and the splines checked visually for erosive wear. When new, this union would have had no perceptible lash whatever. If no wear is noted, then be certain to tighten the castellated nut securely, as looseness at this point tends to accelerate wear of the outboard splines as well as the driving member. Given that the half-shafts are highly susceptible to the adversities of shock , every possible source of radial impact should be minimised, ideally, to diminish the potential for weakening or breakage of the half-shaft. Likely areas for additional trauma to the drive line might be found in loose universal joints or the sliding spline joints in the propeller shaft, worn output flanges of the transfer case or the input flanges of the differentials, a deteriorating differential, including the spyder gears, the road wheel bearings [loosely adjusted], the freewheel hubs, failing or worn clutch disc or pressure plate, loose wheel lug nuts, oversized or heavily-lugged tyres, broken or weak engine or gear box mounts, loose spring-to-axle u bolts, brakes or clutch which grab, poorly adjusted throttle linkage, excessively worn transmission, or loose or failing spring shackles. The litany of problems which have been catalogued herein have been listed more or less in the order of their potential threat to the half-shafts; indeed any and/or all of the above-mentioned problems could at any time conspire to endanger the well-being and longevity of the axles, consequently it would be well to look after these items to assure the greatest potential for successful Land-Rover adventures, both on and off road.