Quick question, wondered if anybody knew? On sierra push in tripod type shafts, is there a spring inside the cv joint to keep the joint extended (and keep the shaft pushed into the diff? I ask as I have another application where I need to keep a shaft pushed in and wondered if there was an off the shelf solution

Yes. there's a spring in both inner and outer joints.

There's an issue if you make up hybrid shafts (like Sierra outer and Freelander inner as I have) in that, the sprung joint pushes the unsprung one fully in and causes knocking and possibly wear (with both sprung they counteract each other and the joints tripod sits central) .

[Edited on 13/4/16 by adithorp]

[Edited on 13/4/16 by adithorp]

perfect, thanks. Will use springs both ends. Cheers

IIRC from stripping and rebuilding Sierra push-in shafts there is a spring at both ends. Personally I refitted them assuming that not doing so would cause issues. I ran the shafts for 3k+ miles without any problems. If rebuilding again I'd fit the springs again as Ford put them there for a reason IMHO.