Hi, am in process of changing prop shaft centre bearing. Managed to remove exhaust heat shield & front 6 bolts. Can only get 3 of the four rear bolts out. Access to top one out of sight and when I managed to get a socket on the bolt, couldn’t get angle/space to turn it. Has anybody got any tips?
I was wondering if I drop the front half and undue the centre bearing, I will be able to drop the shaft and might get better access to rear bolt?

Chock front wheels.
Take the park brake off
Jack one rear wheel on the suspension (bottle jack best) so it’s just off the ground.
Rotate wheel (while under car) and therefore prop around so u can access bolts
Drop wheel down so it locks the prop
Undo bolt

Let us know how you get on with replacing the centre bearing, most people end up replacing the whole prop due to inability to re-sealing it and also finding notchy UJ's.

Note the spacing between the balls is not equal.
If you marry the joint back up in the wrong position it will be solid.

Managed to get bolt out, thanks Andy! Just struggling to actually get prop out. Sprayed with WD40and will leave for a bit. Thanks for ball spacing advice, will bear it in mind and report back when I eventually get it done!

put 2 bolts in loosely.

Then get a chisel to encourage it out, by helping it in the direction you want it to move.

Once out mark the prop where it joins at the joint in the middle. This may help during reassembly.

yes spraying WD40 into the bolt holes helps get lubrication where needed

Give it a few taps with a lump hammer around the to loosen it up and it'll come off.

I tried doing the centre bearing as the rubber had split. I couldn't get it to seal properly. I ended up replacing the prop in the end as the universal joint was notchy too. Kev

MY2014 L405 RR Vogue SE 4.4 SDV8 in Corris Grey
MY2010 L320 RRS HSE 3.0 TDV6 in Stornoway Grey

Hi all,
Did this very job 2 weeks ago.
As Andy K suggests you must line up the prop on re assembly or it won't articulate. Easy way to remember is when viewing joint from one end/same side, make sure you get the outer wide spacing married to the inner small spacing.

Once prop is removed, you need to split it, to do this remove the small clip around the narrow part of the small rubber gaitor, Then you need a fine chisel or screwdriver to prise open the wide end all the way around. take care not to butcher it as you will need to re-use this part by compressing it again on re-fit.
at this point the joint will fall apart with a little pull.
Clean up all the ball bearings ready for refit and clean all the grease off the end of the shaft.
Looking at the end of the shaft you will see a small cir-clip you need to open this out to allow the inner part of the cv joint to come off the shaft.
Then its just a case of knock off the old centre bearing and refit all in the reverse

hope this helps a bit

Hi all.
This is going really well, maybe too well!!!
Got the tin shroud off pretty easy with minimal distortion (so little that I am confident of 100% seal)
Cleaned most of the grease off joint and managed to make a mark on spline and spider to help realignment.
Spread legs of clip and split the shaft into 2. Just in process of using cutting wheel to remove bearing casing but am puzzled as to all talk of spider, big and small lands etc as my joint is still on other shaft intact. Unless I am missing something, all I need to do now is replace bearing, refit boot and insert splined shaft into joint after aligning marks on spline/spider?
Only concern is my permanent marks on the rear joint to diff and front joint disappeared when I applied WD40!!! Any ideas? I still have alignment marks on spline to spider.

Mine didn't go back on as per the marks, and I got away with it!

But I haven’t had to strip the spider/ball bearings!!!
Only grease I have without going out to try get some is that grey cv joint grease, is that ok?

My problem was the center mount rubber was broken.
So I split the joint.
Slid the new rubber mounting on and then put the joint together.

Yeah cv grease should be fine

What grease do I refill with? All I have to hand is the greyish stuff (moly... summat or other!!!) the stuff for cv joints etc

Sorry Andy, didn’t realise you had replied re grease before I posted again!
Yeah, was concerned as to why people were splitting the spider joint and ball bearings as I was surprised mine remained intact