Thread: Driveline slack?

The easiest way to observe rear diff slop is to apply the hand brake firmly, chock the wheels carefully and jack up one back wheel. Observe and listen as you rotate the wheel back and forth. You can also do this with all wheels on the ground and chocked, TC in neutral, hand brake off and rotate the drive shafts by hand. No point replacing a TC if it's OK.

Also look in the oils of each item for metal particles.

Drive slack can be in the transfer case (probably in the centre diff), in the front and/or rear differentials, or wear on the drive flanges (front and rear), not to mention U-joints or CV joints.

But it can also be in any of the linkages that locate the axles, most likely either the lower link rear bushes at the back or the ball joint on top of the rear axle.

Or it can be any or all of the above!

Yeah the bushes seem fine. I put in a new A-frame balljoint too.
I will run it in the shed soon and check for slack in the diffs as bee utey suggested.

Tbh ive just done both my diffs im no expert and done them myself i set the backlash too 0.1 of a mm as per manual and mine has a fair bit of slack not as much as yours.
However without tailshaft connected it doesnt seems as bad as that so itll be a little bit everywhere inc you transfer box

Mine was making fair clunks in rear when you let clutch out. Then it broke the cross pin in diff since ive fixed the little driving ive done theres no more clunking yet still play in it

Have you looked at the drain plug magnet in the offending diff to see if there is any loose metal in the oil?
You can do this without loosing the oil by putting your finger in the hole as soon as you take the plug out.
Hopefully it is just your pinion bearing that is worn causing the slap and it hasn't done too much damage to your crown wheel or pinion, That much slap is excessive and there is certainly something wrong.

Yeah ok. I haven't fiddled with diff gears before, beside replacing seals and readjusting pre-load.
I will checkout the slack amount on one of my other 2 discos and compare with the offending one. At least i have spare diffs!

Rightio, so i did some more investigating and it appears the transfer box is the culprit for the clunk.
All my discos have the same amount of slack in the diffs and none of them clunk. When turning the driveshafts by hand you can clearly hear the clunk in the transfer box and when i pulled the drain plug from the transfer box their was a bit of metal filings on the magnet.

So does anyone know of a place in WA that has rebuilt transfer boxes for sale? I do have a couple of spares but at least one of them sounds worn out as well! If i am going to the trouble of swapping it out i should really put in a known good one.

Also, do i have to lower the back of the gearbox to get the TC off or will it come straight back?

Thanks!