Was underneath my hopefully done truck finishing last little things,

when I noticed this is a "lot" of play to my short side Side gear shaft (41304F below, in 95 IFS )...
circa 1/10 inch or so possible if trying to wobble the shaft. I would be surprised if the oil seal can keep up with that.
Also not impossible there's so much wiggle that it messes with the locker parallelism & engagement.
The needle bearing, at the other end of the movement, has to be going through hell.

I'm fairly confident the short shaft was properly driven in far enough to pass the snap ring past it lock point.

The large roller bearings are new, the needle bearings are because the shaft had minor markings on it from the needle bearings ( the shaft is the inner race of this needle bearing , and I didnt want to mix old & new parts) but mic'ing the shaft there did not set off alarm bells.

Two questions please, for anyone familiar with this;

How much play (grabbing the side gear at the axle shaft and rocking it around) is normal ? We're talking modest fractions of an inch but I'm surprised to feel any. That shaft is only a couple inches long, so the support points are not too far apart, but still..

How much lateral play (ie pull it out) do you feel with a fully engaged snap ring? (even acknowledging the shaft is built all the way out to the hub)

As usual thanks

I guess I'll try knocking it in again tomorrow, to verify snap ring is engaged, but now that it's all assembled it sure is hard to get a good shot right on it.

That shaft spent 160K mi locked to the hub (so it was always in motion), now with freewheeling hubs there are to be less daily wear on it at the diff

Attached Images

 

I am questioning same side gear on my front differential.

I was in the middle of a 4:88 IFS differential swap when I noticed the short shaft wobble.

I also would like to know the reason behind the wobble on the side gear. I disassembled it the point of removing the carrier assembly to inspect the bearings.

The bearings are in good shape.

I think the side gear outside diameter is much smaller then the inside diameter of the carrier...is that normal?

Hi guys, I'm in the process of regearing right now and noticed the same exact same concern in regards to all the free play. Were either of you able to figure out why?

The FSM specs .08" to .12" of axial (along the length of the shaft) play. Doesn't say anything about radial play.