Output Shaft Bearing??? PLEASE HELP!!!

[abelsauceda]

It is rotational...

[greasemonkeyf350]

Is the rotational play you are talking about with the wheels on the ground or with them off the ground and in park.If on the ground than that is play in the rear diff.there are a few things that will add up to that play especially if the truck is high mileage.First you will have play in the ring and pinion gears .Then you will have play in the spider gears and even a little in the axle splines.If you add all of these together it will seem like a lot.With out seeing exactly how much it is hard to say if it is something to worry about.Another thing to check also is the axle bolts that hold it to the hubs.If these loosen the holes in the axle could elongate or the bolts couldwear letting the axle move back and forth.I hope this helps you.

[abelsauceda]

When I checked the play in the driveshaft, the truck was on the ground and in first gear... I noticed that if I held the rear driveshaft, the shaft coming out of the transfer case that meets the driveshaft at the splines had the play... Almost an inch of rotational play back and forth... I seriously doubt that it is the rear diff...

[abelsauceda]

Ok... so I took the driveshaft off to lube the splines and also check to see if the nut on the output shaft of the transfer case was coming loose... The nut was secure and I grabbed the output shaft and it had that same amount of play discussed earlier in the thread, but you could hear the gearing turning inside the driveshaft (about 1 inch of play)... The same held true for the rear diff... Is this play normal? Is there something that needs to be fixed in either one of these? Thanks guys for your help...

[klhansen]

You're probably looking at normal rotational play. When each gear in the tranny meshes, there's a certain amount of clearance between teeth. When you're in first gear, there are 4 gears involved, as well as a couple of splines in the tranny, and another couple spline interfaces between tranny and t-case, then another couple of spline interfaces in the t-case. Each one adds up. What's happening is you're taking up the slack (clearance) in each interface as you go back and forth.

Even if you were in direct gear (5th counting low, or 4th on the knob), there's still some radial clearance that has to be taken up
1. clutch disk to input shaft spline
2. input shaft to gear engagement slider
3. gear engagement slider to tranny output shaft
4. tranny output shaft to t-case coupler
5. t-case coupler to t-case input shaft
6. t-case input shaft to shifting slider
7. shifting slider to t-case output shaft (and flange)
(I may have even missed a couple)

Not sure how much is too much, but I wouldn't be surprised if yours is just fine.

[abelsauceda]

Wow! That was a great post! Thanks so much for the info... It just seemed like a lot play to me... I did notice that the knock went away with the spline lube and made the engagements smoother, but that play is still there... LOL! Thanks again!