I was wondering how much play in the driveshaft is considered normal? When my car was last on the lift I noticed that I could twist the (front-back) drive shaft by almost 90 deg before it would have any resistance, which seemed excessive to me. Anybody know how much play is normal? Thanks.

 

Buy the shop manual on ebay, it should have the specs.

 

Um ... anybody else? Maybe somebody who has the shop manual? Come on guys, people always complain that there are too many BOV sound questions, so here's a more technical one and nobody's got anything ?

 

Nice---well if its in the manual I can't find it..there is a run out number but thats for straigtness of the shaft...nothing on play--preloade etc.. (90 degrees does seem like a lot)

 

Got the service manuals in both paper & PDF... here's what & how they say to check what you're concerned about:

REAR AXLE TOTAL BACKLASH

1. Park the vehicle on a flat, level surface.
2. Move the transmission gearshift lever to the neutral position.
Apply the parking brake and jack up the vehicle.
3. Turn the propeller shaft clockwise as far as it will go. Make the mating marks on the dust cover of the companion flange and on the differential carrier.
4. Turn the propeller shaft counterclockwise as far as it will go, and measure the amount of distance between the mating marks.

* Limit: 6 mm (0.2 inch) *

5. If the backlash exceeds the limit value, remove the differential carrier assembly and check the following.
• Final drive gear backlash
• Differential gear backlash

(sorry, no pics.)

^ in the PDF files, above info will be found in the Rear Axle section (GR00005100-27, pg12)

 

You're the man - thanks! I'll give that a try and see what I get.