Axle Play at Transmission...Seeking Opinions

[tmontague]

FWIW I have roughly the same amount of play in both my axles, oem passenger side and aftermarket driver side. The said I don't have a vibration from the drivetrain.

I originally went to return the aftermarket axle due to this play since there was 1 month left in the warranty but when I received the new one it had more play and the outer joint was super stiff. I ended up just keeping the original aftemarket axle.

My Vibe's axles seem to have zero play what so ever but this can also be due to the axles being compressed or lengthened depending in the position of the suspension and other factors. Case in point, my oem axle originally showed no play but a day later when rechecking it, it had the same amount if play as my aftermarket one.

Play in the inner joint is not a good thing and there really shouldn't be any, but some play where the inner shaft enter the transaxle is from my experience normal. If there was no play built in between the splined inner shaft and the transaxle then you would virtually never get the axle in or out due to tight tolerances.

Determining if the inner joint has play or just the splined inner shaft is the tough part. A new axle might solve your vibration but its tough to say without swapping one in. I would assume that the vibration would improve under throttle only because it would cause the axle and joints to be compressed together leading to less play.

[06YarisRS]

Originally Posted by tmontague

FWIW I have roughly the same amount of play in both my axles, oem passenger side and aftermarket driver side. The said I don't have a vibration from the drivetrain.

I originally went to return the aftermarket axle due to this play since there was 1 month left in the warranty but when I received the new one it had more play and the outer joint was super stiff. I ended up just keeping the original aftemarket axle.

My Vibe's axles seem to have zero play what so ever but this can also be due to the axles being compressed or lengthened depending in the position of the suspension and other factors. Case in point, my oem axle originally showed no play but a day later when rechecking it, it had the same amount if play as my aftermarket one.

Play in the inner joint is not a good thing and there really shouldn't be any, but some play where the inner shaft enter the transaxle is from my experience normal. If there was no play built in between the splined inner shaft and the transaxle then you would virtually never get the axle in or out due to tight tolerances.

Determining if the inner joint has play or just the splined inner shaft is the tough part. A new axle might solve your vibration but its tough to say without swapping one in. I would assume that the vibration would improve under throttle only because it would cause the axle and joints to be compressed together leading to less play.

Thanks Trevor. Yes, it's a little perplexing, especially with the vibration increasing on bumps. Though when the back squats down on a bump, I suppose it would temporarily increase torque on the axles. I might add that it's also worse with the kids and hockey gear in the back. If I take the car out myself, it often doesn't make the vibration, unless I find myself a good dip in the highway. So, I'm not 100% sure if it's axle related or suspension. If the car is loaded up (well, my kids are pretty light) and I'm driving up a long hill, the vibration will be consistent regardles of how much load I put on the engine. It definitely has something with center of gravity shifted to the rear of the car. If I'm going up a hill while it's vibrating, and I quickly shift to neutral, the vibration goes away. I'm also hoping it has nothing to do with the transmission or clutches. The problem is evident only in higher gears, 3rd or 4th, and speeds probably over 50 km/h.