with my truck in neutral and the parking break on, I have a good inch of play in my rear drive shaft. Is this normal???

 

Is this still related to the clunk noise/tranny problem question? I don't think you should have that much play in the drive line. I am still guessing its one of the U-joints. You can see how much play is in the rear axle/pinion by blocking the front wheels, putting the rear axle on jack stands, and put it back in nuetral. Crawl under there and sutrn the drive shaft to see how far it turns before the tire turns. If you have someone who can help you, you can hold the driveshaft and have a helper slowly turn the tire, and watch how much play there is in everything, and hopefully isolate the problem. There should be a small amount of play in both the axle and tranny, but if it moves alot beyond that, then theres something else wrong. The next weekest link is usually a U-joint. Good Luck.