Thanks again @jamesmartin
In your experience, is it possible that the bearing failure could have happened within a few hundred miles, without being picked up by the instructor who is presumably, to check that the propshaft had been fitted ceorretly, with all bolts in place, and no play in the UJ's?
Even after repeatedly being told that I was hearing unusual noises from the tranmission, and being charged £80 to have the newly fitted gearbox (refurbished by Ashcrofts) levels topped up, with no reduction in the noise, I was told to return her to them for further investigations, which was when I was returning her to them that the pinion dropped out.

Oldseadog said:

Thanks again @jamesmartin
In your experience, is it possible that the bearing failure could have happened within a few hundred miles, without being picked up by the instructor who is presumably, to check that the propshaft had been fitted ceorretly, with all bolts in place, and no play in the UJ's?
Even after repeatedly being told that I was hearing unusual noises from the tranmission, and being charged £80 to have the newly fitted gearbox (refurbished by Ashcrofts) levels topped up, with no reduction in the noise, I was told to return her to them for further investigations, which was when I was returning her to them that the pinion dropped out.

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were pinion bearings worn ,certainly a seized prop will take out old pinion bearings that would likely have been ok for a good time yet through the linear thrust put on during suspension movement that the slide should cater for, with an instructor you never going to have full attention to detail their concerns are obvious faults and looking at students performance,and you cant see seized after props fitted,personally before changing a box for anyone were noise is a complaint i check props and diffs first

They towed her back and dumped her outside the house, on a public street at around 0800, knowing full well that she was SORN'd, and then someone anonymously advised the DVLA of an untaxed,abandoned vehicle at my address!
Fortuitously, I rang the DVLA for advice, and they told me to get her taxed and that'll be OK until 6th June when the MoT runs out!
I have also informed the police, and today will be contacting the local authority, Trading Standards, the CGLI as they are the qualifications awarding body, and updating my solicitor!
People have asked why I have kept going back to the same place?
The answer is simple, as by law any faults must be taken up initially with the garage which carried out the repairs, otherwise they can claim tat they hads no knowledge of the fault, and therefore have no responsibility for any outcomes.

To get your truck going again refit the flange with new nut and washer and split pin then check for any up down side to side movement and smooth rotation. If good refill oil and fit a new prop.
Do not know if doing this would impact sorting the issue with the garage though. Keep us informed.

Thanks @tottot I'm fitting the newly ordered, guaranteed rebuilt diff and a new prop, both of which are covered under a long warranty, so all I need to do is fit them when they arrive, probably in the middle of nexrt week, fill with the wonderful EP90, and then we should be 'good to go' - whatever that's supposed to mean
Just found that the 1100CCA battery is down to 5.8V
I wonder how that happened?

I don't like anyone else working on my landy, never mind a class full of apprentices. I was one a lonnng time ago - and you get all sorts of eejits.

The Rolls Royce Apprentice Training School in Derby used to be the best in trhe world ... bar none!
That's what I imagined all apprantice schools would be like, and using that as a benchmark, especially when they provide 'training' to CGLI Level 3, which to me means good quality hands-on!
Apparently not!

My old apprenticeship school had high standards, but we ****ed about as per any bunch of 16/17 years old lads. Our work was very closely scrutinised, with a high instructor/pupil ratio. However, it was not unknown for your work to be sabotaged if you left it alone for more than a few seconds!

zeaphod said:

My old apprenticeship school had high standards, but we ****ed about as per any bunch of 16/17 years old lads. Our work was very closely scrutinised, with a high instructor/pupil ratio. However, it was not unknown for your work to be sabotaged if you left it alone for more than a few seconds!

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I was told by my foreman it would be cheaper for the firm to pay me to stay away rather than make all the cock-ups.
Did think of arguing but an ex MP Sgt can be a bit daunting at 17 year old.

frog hopper said:

I was told by my foreman it would be cheaper for the firm to pay me to stay away rather than make all the cock-ups.
Did think of arguing but an ex MP Sgt can be a bit daunting at 17 year old.

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even as a 17 year old i argued

As they dragged, sorry, towed her from the garage back to dump her outside my house, with the front diff out, is there any chance of further, internal damage to either the halfshafts, CV coupling in the steering ball, bearings, oil seals or anything else?
The halfshaft drive flanges had been removed.
I beginning to build up a serious case against them!
A replacement exchange diff and a neqw propshaft are on order, and should be with me by Thursday/Friday next week.
@jamesmartin I have ordered propshaft FRC8390 as I think that that as standard before 1994? Am I right?

Oldseadog said:

As they dragged, sorry, towed her from the garage back to dump her outside my house, with the front diff out, is there any chance of further, internal damage to either the halfshafts, CV coupling in the steering ball, bearings, oil seals or anything else?
The halfshaft drive flanges had been removed.
I beginning to build up a serious case against them!
A replacement exchange diff and a neqw propshaft are on order, and should be with me by Thursday/Friday next week.
@jamesmartin I have ordered propshaft FRC8390 as I think that that as standard before 1994? Am I right?

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yes

jamesmartin said:

yes

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Thanks

New arrived axle gaskets arrived this morning,the diff this lunchtime, and the propshaft yesterday, so all I need now are the drive flange gaskets and the propshaft bolts.
I have a couplle of gallons of EP90 and a few tubs of graphite grease standing by ready to reload my gun!
Hopefully, I'll be doing it tomorrow, so I'm an excited and happy bunny

Whit all the gaskets and new nuts and bolts, all I have to do now is put it all back together.
Does anyone know of a fairly simple and easy way of sliding the front halfshafts into the diff, preferably keeping the streering ball and end in one piece.
I've split the axle, and now hopefully, it might all go back together today?
ASftyer yesterdays exertions, I now ache in bits that I'd forgotten I had!

No easy way I know of, just a case of resting the shaft on the lip of the axle case and guesstimating / aiming where the diff splines are and when contact is made lift and turn the housing hoping things line up and it all slides in. You will have had your Wheatabix I hope.

tottot said:

No easy way I know of, just a case of resting the shaft on the lip of the axle case and guesstimating / aiming where the diff splines are and when contact is made lift and turn the housing hoping things line up and it all slides in. You will have had your Wheatabix I hope.

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I thought that you were going to say that!
I've had my porrige with a bit of extra honey on it.
And it's going to start raining soon

I prefer porridge too.

Oldseadog said:

I beginning to build up a serious case against them!

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Was that the point of this thread?

Is this the apprenticeship college?

Why did you not ask your son for his guidance?

Cheers

@neilly An apprentice training establishment, and the instructors, should be able to remove any failed mechanical component, strip it down to identify exactly why it has failed, replace the component part, reassemble and refit it in place.
The instructors should be highly skilled, qualkified and experienced, and as part of their instruction, should keep a constant check on the condition of the cmponent parts throughout, and monitor the abilities of the students.
It would apppear thgat, although they are able to 'sign off' students to C&G levels 1, 2 and 3 in 'motor mechanics', they are not capable of the basic mechanical skills, and it certainly appears that all they do is take a bit off, and fit a new one, and if that doesn't work change something else until it does, whilst charging over 'commercial rates' throughout, with no limits on the time taken, as 'it takes longer to train young people up'.
I went there as the Landy would give them experience of workking on a real vehicle for a change.
So far it has cost over £2250 for the gearbox, which they said was beyond repair, but wouldn't allow me to be there when it was removed and stripped down, all new parts purchased, and not used (which should belong to me, as I have paid for and never seen any trace of them), before sending the geatbox to Ashcrofts, who rightly charged a premium as it had already been stripped!
After putting it alll back together, along with a siezed propshaft ( however that happened!!) the front diff failed, and I paid for an independent examiner to provide me with a full report, which backs up my initial findings.
They then towed my Landy from their premises, where it had been SORN'd as they had had her for 7 weeks and done nothing, and towed her back and dumped her outside my house, reporting an untaxed vehicle and it's locatiion to the DVLA at 09;00 the same day!
Why should I ask my son for assistance when he lives half way down the country, and even though it would be easier with two people, I will have to do it on my own, which is why I wondered if there was an easy way of locating the halfshafts wihout strpping the balls down.
Unfortunately, it's rain stops play at the moment, so it might have to wait until tomorrow, if that's OK?