Play in drivetrain??

[92ShoOff]

Hey everyone. Some of you know that my SHO has been down for a while now while I was doing a 3.2 swap. Prior to the swap I'd owned the car for a full year and noticed play in the drivetrain. The play is noticed much of the time when you let go of the throttle and coast for a few seconds and then get back on the throttle again.

During the whole motor swap I took some time to pull out the differential from the MTX tranny and mailed it off to Bizzy to reinforce it. I reinstalled the differential and threw in some fiber lined blocking rings and sealed the tranny back up.

Well a few months later I finallt got around to dropping the new motor and tranny in and tore a CV boot on the driver's side on accident in the process. I decided to change the whole CV axle out rather then messing with replacing the boot and regreasing the old axle. After I removed the axle I noticed that the ball joint boot on the driver's side control arm was ripped, so I ordered a new Moog control arm and TPR bushings for it. I installed everything, torqued everything to spec, lubed all grease fittings and took the car out for a drive. I STILL get that annoying play in the drivetrain!

Now I only did the driver's side CV axle and control arm and I planned on doing the same on the passenger's side here this winter. But now I'm not so sure that my CV axles is where my problem is unless that passenger's side axle is really worn out. Is there anything else that may be causing this play in the drivetrain? Or does it sound like I need to replace that other CV axle? Thanks in advance for your help everyone!

-Andrew Grayson

 

[93rev2sev]

I think ALL high mileage manual tranny's get a little sloppy over time.

Did you set the differential pre-load when you had the diff out? When I got my tranny back from Bizzy, there was a surprising amount of turning resistance. I could barey turn the trans by barehanding an axle shaft.

After the trans was installed, it seemed less sloppy. (the new motor mounts might have helped too).

 

[290]

I have the same slop in mine and can really feel it rush hour traffic. Drives me nuts when im stuck in first on the freeway and my cars jerkin around.

 

[92ShoOff]

I think ALL high mileage manual tranny's get a little sloppy over time.

Did you set the differential pre-load when you had the diff out? When I got my tranny back from Bizzy, there was a surprising amount of turning resistance. I could barey turn the trans by barehanding an axle shaft.

After the trans was installed, it seemed less sloppy. (the new motor mounts might have helped too).

Nah I definitely didn't set the pre-load. Haha what's that???? I cleaned all parts, lubricated everything and dropped it all back in and called it a done job.

I do also have reinforced motor mounts and solid subframe bushings, but I'm thinking that I may not have torqued the motor mount to subframe bolts enough. I remember getting them fairly tight but never tightened them to whatever the spec. is so maybe they're not tight enough.

And yeah, it's definitely annoying bouncing around in first gear. People who ride with you think your car's falling apart lol.

 

[SHOsFAST]

I have the same issue, I cant stand it!

 

[AREA 91]

Every 89-95 MTX I have driven, has some "play" in the drivetrain. It's just the nature of the beast.

 

[290]

Now my question is...is there a way to take the slop out of it when doing a rebuild?

 

[93rev2sev]

I think some of the slop is lack of diff preload. The differential is basically being squeezed between the two transmission halves. With proper preload it is supposed to take some effort to spin the differential by hand. This is because the bearings wear. The roller bearing race and the actual rollers wear just like cylinder walls, as do the teeth of the gears. When it's all loosey goosey like that, there will be some slop felt. If you reset the dif preload, the sloppyness SHOULD be limited to the wear on the gears - as the bearings are now tight again.

Does that sound about right Bizzy?

 

[290]

Yeah what do you think Bizzy?



BTW you get that computer together yet?

 

[bobreimer]

hey ..... its a ford

 

[quikSHOilver]

hey ..... its a ford

Correction...Hey....it's a mazda tranny!

 

[Ishodu]

It wont have anything to do with preload, more so on play in the CV shafts and slop in the gear teeth in the tranny.

 

[93rev2sev]

The ring gear is bolted to the diff. If the diff bearings are loose, then when power is applied, the ring gear and drive gear will thrust apart from each other-creating the gear tooth slop. Proper diff preload will help. New shaft bearings will help. And of course, new gears would help.

 

[290]

I know the U Joints have got to have some slop in them being original. I was more concerned about the gears

 

[Ishodu]

The ring gear is bolted to the diff. If the diff bearings are loose, then when power is applied, the ring gear and drive gear will thrust apart from each other-creating the gear tooth slop. Proper diff preload will help. New shaft bearings will help. And of course, new gears would help.

Pretty sure if there were that much play in there your bearings would be dust in short order, you would also hear that noise. But you are right having play in them like that would cause some slack.