IT IS A 1999 AND JUST TURNED 90K. HAVE BEEN FEELING A SLIGHT CLUNK AND BUMP WHEN COMING TO STOP AND SOMETIMES ON TAKE OFF. THOUGHT UJOINT MIGHT BE WORN, BUT FOUND OUT THAT WHEN TURNING DRIVE SHAFT THERE IS A LITTLE PLAY IN THE DIFFERENTIAL. ALSO, CLUNKS WHEN YOU DOWNSHIFT IT. DOES THIS MEAN IT IS WORN AND IS GOING TO GO BAD SOON AND IF SO IS THERE ANY PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE I CAN DO TO MAKE IT LAST LONGER. THANKS. OH, I READ IN THE OWNERS MANUAL THAT THE REAR END IS SUPPOSED TO NEVER NEED ANY SERVICE?

 

A little play in the differential is normal. You would need to put a gauge on it and measure the amount of movement before we could tell you if it's too much or not.

 

You might pull the drive shaft out and lube the slip splines with some heavy grease... That has been known to give a CLUNK when shifting FWD- REV, or on takeoff......... I would doubt it is in the rear axle UNLESS you have some MASSIVE clearance as alloro said.

 

Hey alloro, thanks for the info. What kind of gauge is needed to do this? The guy showed me when it was up on rack checking u-joints and it looked like too much to me, maybe an 8th of a revolution, but that's just a guess.

 

Thanks Steve, I will definitely do that after I measure the slack with the proper type gauge. Have to find out what type of gauge to get.

 

the proper gauge is anything that you can measure the movement accurately... you could put a chalk mark on the shaft and then turn it back and forth and get the DEGREE of movement with a protractor or mark it and give a portion of a 90 degree arc by visual.......... 1/8 revolution is excessive.( 45 degrees) ... you need to measure closer... you might take a pointer, set at some point on the shaft. mark with chalk, and then rotate and mark with chalk... if the marks are 1/4 inch apart, see how many of them would fit into a 90 degree arc ... lets say 6 of the gaps would fit... 90/ 6 = about 15 degrees of movement.


---also grab the pinion input and see if it wiggles up and down or sideways.. You would have excessive movement in the pinion if you have wear to get excessive backlash....... and you should have NOISE.

 

Ring to pinion back lash clearance is .008 to .015". That's pretty close.
Measured with a dial indicator.
You cannot be accurate any other way.
Good luck.