Lots of slack and oil from transfer box.

The last few days ive noticed a noise like a squeaky prop shaft UJ coming from the transmission tunnel area of my 1992 200tdi 90 Defender.

Having had a look underneath the propshaft UJs dont seem bad at all but I notice that I can turn the front prop about a 1/4 turn by hand with all four wheels on the ground and there is quite a lot of transfer box oil coming the seal behind the drive flange.

What are my options here? Am i safe to use it tomorrow? The noise seems to go away once its warmed up a bit.

L230 oil is a thick EP90 cats **** smelling oil, the same as in the diff's.
It's quite 'normal' that you can turn the propshafts althouigh a 1/4 turns does sound a bit slack.
Seals are relatively easy to change, the rear seal is a bit more complex/time consuming as you need to take off the rear brake drum.

No oil is bad, a slight leak will take a good long while to empty the case.
If the oil is 'low' you should top it up, if you are not driving far you should be ok, the transfer boxes are pretty tough.

Just a quarter turn is not bad for a 92 model, the main thing is there should be no side to side or up down if you grab the prop near the uj and give a good wiggle .

Thanks,
I greased the props and UJs before I set off this morning and that does seem to have calmed the noise down a bit. One grease nipple missing so that wont be doing it much good, but ill change that in time.

Front diff and transfer box flanges do have about 1mm play side to side, so thatll need to be sorted in time......... think I need to make a list just for the list of jobs I need to do on it .....

Keep a sharp eye on that UJ, a total fail is no fun.

UJs are not expensive, however they are a pain to fit and if you were to ask a garage it is cheaper to buy a complete propshaft with UJ's attached.
New bolts and nuts (or if the bolts are still in good shape, just new nuts) are advisable.

I would be rechecking them prop u/js, the squeak wont be the tfer box!
If car is a toy greasing them twice a year will suffice
If everday car then they will need more attention
Plus if off road pay and play they need greasing after every session

tfer seals easy enough, but will need prop socket tool and some means of undoing the flange securing nuts

There are also 'O' rings on one shaft in the transfer box that leak oil when they have gone south. I have just had my trannie box rebuilt with new seals and O rings and when they did it they also tightened up the O ring loaded shaft as well to the correct torque as it had some play on it. I have a no oil leak Def 90 now as they also changed the clutch and rear main crank oil seal and the sump gasket as well. Expensive but no more oil on my garage floor now.

Had a similar issue on a 90 auto (I converted to auto).

Heavy vibration going uphill, but multiple issues found.

First, rear UJ was totalled so new prop ordered and fitted. I measured flange to flange then contacted Maltings 4wd in Selby (shout out) and he sorted out the right prop, which was 680mm (part number FRC3893).

Front prop has about 1/8 turn ( I was told this is for the diff lock to engage).

I looked at buying HD Univeral Joints (£54) but prop complete was £80 I figured I would save myself £26 of swearing and bought the shaft complete. I am glad I did, the old UJ had literally exploded and the caps were stripped.

New prop of course comes assembled and balanced.

What i did notice on mine was that both front and rear flange nuts/bolts were rotating in the holes - very very loose so I replaced rears and have now torqued both front and back to 80nm.

For info, I bought the prop shaft tool, 3/8 drive with 9/16 socket about 150mm long -£13 on ebay. I was glad I did as there was no way I was getting a 1/2 inch ratchet on the front prop. Defo recommend the tool. Nipping up needs prop tool on the bolt heads, and 9/16 open ended spanner - no room for a ringer.

Last of all, pumped both front and rear shafts full of grease.

Will definitely be monitoring the UJ's and prop bolts more in the future and pumping liberal amounts of grease in, at the least at the end of winter.