I have a 97 Ranger Splash 3.0 5 speed (yellow ).
I jacked it up and put it on stands to see where the limiter kicked in. it was around 160 km/h or 100 mph at 3650 rpm in 5th gear.
I belive it has 3.73 gears. 7.5" with lsd

Now to my issue, when i stopped i turned the wheels by hand to see if there was any slack in the driveshaft, almost nothing, but when i grabbed the wheel and pulled it towards me it was some slack that way, in and out, it was not a loose wheel because the brake drum moved with the wheel. this is the first car i have owned with slack that way in the rear axle. its also my first ford, or US car for that matter.

Is this normal, the in / out slack in the rear axle?
Or maybe its the rear wheel bearings? It is the same on both sides, and no noise back there.

it has only original 29000 miles on it or about 48000 km. it drives like brand new.

Hope you understand my question, my English is not very good.

 

it is normal for them to have a little bit of in & out !

 

Ok. thanks for a quick reply. I appreciate it.
It was about 1 mm movement on both sides so not much but i could feel and hear it when wheels was in the air

 

It's called end play and I agree that a little bit is normal. There should be no play when you push in on one side while pulling out on the other (like at 3 and 9 o'clock). That would be a sign of a bad wheel bearing which is not adjustable.

 

You lost me on that one. Please explain better?

So you are saying that if you push in on the driverside then there be no play on the passenger side?

 

No, that is not what I meant. While pulling the wheel towards you with both hands at the same time and then pushing it back in is called end play and a little bit is OK. If however one side of the wheel moves in while the other moves out (or the top moves in while the bottom moves out) is not acceptable and means that you have a bad wheel bearing. Rear wheel bearings are lubricated by the gear oil in the differential. They are pressed on the axle and are not adjustable. Hope this explains it better.

 

I know how the rearend works and goes together, but you lost me for a second in your first explanation.