Slop in Axles


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Old 07-27-16, 11:42 AM
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Slop in Axles

It's been a while since I've owned a front wheel drive vehicle (my 2011 TL is actually all wheel drive) and I'm curious as to how much movement is normal in the wheels with the vehicle in park. I had the front wheels off the ground individually yesterday evening to re-torque the lug nuts (dealer torqued them to more than 30 ft lbs over spec ) and I was able to rotate each wheel back and forth slightly. I could hear a loud clunking noise as I rotated them presumably from the gears meshing inside the transaxle. Is it normal to have a certain amount of "slop" in the transaxle when in park? There was also a bit of vertical play in the axles, but when I held the wheels tight (meaning fully CW or CCW and held in place) the axles were nice and tight.
 
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Old 07-27-16, 12:09 PM
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A little bit of play is normal, I'd be concerned about the clunk.
 
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Old 07-27-16, 12:12 PM
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A little bit of play is normal, I'd be concerned about the clunk.
Well it's gotta make some kind of noise when it reaches the limit right? It's more like a ticking noise, like what you'd expect to hear when the teeth on two gears engage.
 
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Old 07-27-16, 12:25 PM
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I just installed a new hub on my stepson's malibu and there was a little rotation play and in/out play while it was in park, not much - just enough to tell it moved. No clunk [by my definition] but there was a sound when you rotated it and it stopped.
 
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Old 07-27-16, 12:32 PM
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Clunk was probably not the appropriate word. More of a loud click as I rotated the wheel back and forth.

Meant to say transfer case, not transaxle.
 

Last edited by mossman; 07-27-16 at 01:01 PM.
 

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