Okay heres the scoop.

I was under my truck trying to figure out my o2 sensor bolts when I decided to check out my rear end.

I grabbed the driveshaft and tried to turn it.. (truck has e-brake on and in 1st gear) it moves both clockwise and counterclockwise about 2mm.
Its not the ujoints but its moving inside the rear end and in the tranny.

is this bad?


and one more question since we are on the topic of rear ends..

my 3rd/housing is leaking, I chaulked it up to it just being old.

I tried to whipe off some grease/dirt (SO much!) and I saw that the breather hood thing couldnt move since it was caked in dirt/grease.
So I whiped it off and now it can move freely.
Then I decided to see how tight the 3rd member bolts where, I put on my rachet and to my surprize they where pretty loose. I got a full rotation out of my rachet before they where "tight"

help?

 

some movement is normal.

 

Mine moves about that much too... I've always been curious if it was a 'bad' thing. Anybody know the factory specs for amount of play?

 

okay first off thats normal for an old diff dont worry about it... even sum new fords i see have similar 2mm of play its nothing to worry about..

secondly if your 3rd is leaking i would suggest NOT tightening the bolts up (they will be losening over time thats natural).. if you tighten them you will not help it seal and stop leaking (because the sealant used is already hardened)... I would suggest undoing all the bolts and re applying sealant (after thoroughly cleaning the mating surfaces of course) and then torque to spec.

Again you can tighten till your hearts content but it wont make a difference as the epoxy substance used to seal has long since hardened up

 

I was hoping that just tighting the bolts would stop the leak but yeah.. nope.

We are going to pull the 3rd and put a new gasket on. I bought it probibly 2 months ago but never had the time to do it, but since its getting pretty bad..

I still feel it has somthing to do with the breather, it will only leak when its hot (after driving) how do you clean out the breather?

 

I blast it with compressed air and spray it with breakclean.. u should be able to twist the top around freely without and gunk in the way...

My experience is the breather gets plugged often which causes leaking from the 3rd member.... but I also find that once it starts leaking it wont stop till its been resealed as well as the breather cleaned up

 

The cap turns smoothly as well as moves up and done smoothly.
I just wiped off all the crap.