drive shaft swap and bad aftermarket parts

Hi Guys, just wanted to share my experiences with you.

About 3 months back I had a worn inner CV joint on my 2002 TD4.

I decided that since its a rubbish job I would buy 2 new aftermarket full drive shafts and fit them.

After doing this I had the next 3 months of an awful vibration at about 1500-2200 rpm, could be felt through the car and gear stick.

I checked everything but could not find the source, even changed the prop bearings and had a bad experience with crap brit part bearings making noise from the off set - awful awful bearings!

Anyway back to the drive shafts, I finally decided that I would replace the drive shafts. I replace the non worn one and purchased a genuine landrover one to replace the worn one.

Upshot? Vibration is gone and the car drives like it should!

Lesson, after market drive shafts are rubbish and I hope that the store will take them back and refund me.

Also I have a tip for removal of the drive shafts since I have done it so many times. Dont mess on with screw drivers trying to pop them out instead try using a ball joint slitter folk and gently tap the wedge between the outer shaft and the box/ird face and it will pop right out.


Hope this will help some one because it really upset me, Im so glad I got to the bottom of it.

What brand aftermarket drive shafts did you buy? It's interesting to know for others, there are many different qualities.

I got mine from island 4x4, not sure who makes them, but I haven't had any problems. It's been on for around 8-10K miles now, I think.

Probably the ****part ones .

mick 1986 said:

I got mine from island 4x4, not sure who makes them, but I haven't had any problems. It's been on for around 8-10K miles now, I think.

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i got mine there too all good for me

I got mine off some man on ebay . 55 quid each . Still perfect a few years on .

Last week ordered a driveshaft. Came with the post today.

I ordered a bearmach from lrdirect, part number TDB103520, £90.76.

On the box it says: ODM, so it is comming from here: ODM Europe or Zhejiang ODM Transmission Technology Co., Ltd

Looks solid, suposingly ODM is also making driveshafts for Audi and VW.

I will update after I fitted and tried them out for a few mounths

Hi guys,

Don't want to mention the supplier at the moment as still trying to get my refund!

However I would say that from my research I believe this issue only effects the TD4 and has to do with the later model cars using similar drive shafts to the v6.

Word is that the td4 shafts although physically similar to the v6 have extra movement in the cv joint or some such.

The parts I tried looked good and seemed to fit ok but a genuine part cured the issue.

Hello I have a drive shaft question, are all Freelander rear drive shafts the same,
I have a 2004 TD4 and I would like to get a breakers drive shaft, clean and rebuild it, swop it out and repeat the process. But I can't get a definitive answer as to what fits what. For instance will a shaft from a 2002 petrol engined vehicle fit. It's almost impossible to track down an exact twin to my car so I'm hoping there is some compatability across years. Please help, cheers Glenn

hsp said:

Last week ordered a driveshaft. Came with the post today.

I ordered a bearmach from lrdirect, part number TDB103520, £90.76.

On the box it says: ODM, so it is comming from here: ODM Europe or Zhejiang ODM Transmission Technology Co., Ltd

Looks solid, suposingly ODM is also making driveshafts for Audi and VW.

I will update after I fitted and tried them out for a few mounths

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How did you get on with this?