on my 88 toy I pulled the guts out of one axle and placed it into a new housing due to a bent axle housing. 1st time dealing with a 3rd member. I pulled the axles, and 3rd member. placed it all into the new housing. only question is when I turn the 3rd member and it seems to have some play before it catches the gears (tension). is this normal? is there supposed to be some kind of pre-load??

 

when turning the 3rd member spindle that connects to the driv line there is about 1/2 of slack before it catches. Seems like this would just break things and shear off bolts?? anybody know if this is normal??

 

You mean that when the truck is parked with the parking brake one and the trans in neutral you can grab the axle and twist it a few degrees either way and there is a clicking sound as the pinion engages the ring in the drive and coast sides?

I think that is the "ring gear backlash" and its spec'd at 0.13mm to 0.18mm
But I have no idea how much "angle" this translates to at the companion flange.

Short answer - mine do that...

 

spec is .007" or .008" ring gear backlash

hard to tell from the companion flange but if its really excessive you can tell..

only way to really check if your stuff is in spec is to pull the third and check the backlash with a dial indicator.

check out www.gearinstalls.com he goes over it all there