Front axle pinion

[Slate]

I was under my truck and noticed I can grab my front drive shaft and turn it quite a bit side to side. I also changed the oil in the front diff and noticed metal shards on the magnetic plug. Can I use the chunk out of a rear axle if needed? Need a thread if there is one for checking the front axle out.

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[NDT]

Side to side not good. Eminent failure. Yes all three positions are interchangeable.

 

[NY Tom]

If you mean "rotate" the driveshaft side to side it may just be normal play.
Depends how big the pieces you found inside are.
Do you drive much with the front axle engaged?
Pulling one out to inspect is a lot of work. I just did it since parts of a broken collar came out of the drain hole. Best advice I can give is to get a pallet jack and do it on a hard surface. You will likely need to tear down one side to the knuckle to get the jack in far enough. It is pretty heavy so I took both sides apart first.

 

[Slate]

Rotate is what I meant. It was just slivers in the bottom nothing large. Maybe it'll work for a while or longer if I keep an eye on it. Thank you Sir.

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[NDT]

Oh. Rotate that much is normal. There is plenty of gear lash in the front end.

 

[Slate]

Oh. Rotate that much is normal. There is plenty of gear lash in the front end.

Thank you for the advice that I can just swap out the center chunk if it fails. I have an extra axle.

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