Side gear play

[Johnl48]

Would this be considered normal or excessive play on my side gears ?
14 bolt rear axle full float

https://youtube.com/shorts/kuXK_y6hBfc?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/O0lLKZy_IT8?feature=share

[mongocanfly]

thats not really side gear play as much as it is backlash between ring and pinion gears..use a dial indicator on the outer part of a ring gear tooth and see what you get in .000 it looks like to much though but it hard to tell from video
and it looks like your gear pattern needs some work

[Johnl48]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

thats not really side gear play as much as it is backlash between ring and pinion gears..use a dial indicator on the outer part of a ring gear tooth and see what you get in .000 it looks like to much though but it hard to tell from video
and it looks like your gear pattern needs some work

This is between axles not ring and pinion. Ring and pinion backlash is set ot .007
Best pattern I can get with used gears. Been playing with it for 2 days

[LONGHAIR]

Some clearance in the side gears is fine. It's typical of an open differential.
It may be worth opening up to see where though? There are washers behind all of those gears and enough wear on any of the internal parts can open that up. Clutch-type Posi-traction units have springs to tighten this up.

Getting the correct pattern of used gears can be very difficult and quite risky. Re-setting them is a gamble, especially if you didn't take them out of the last axle. The backlash is probably bigger than what would be considered correct. It also assumes that they were installed correctly in the first place. The worst part is that since they have some wear, they need to be even more exact. Brand new gears have some "tolerance" in the set-up, worn gears don't.
I hate to be the downer, but this may not go well or run as quiet as it should.
Best bet is to use some synthetic lube and give it a couple of rounds of heat cycles before driving any distance.

[mongocanfly]

ok, i went back and watched the videos on a bigger screen, i thought you were seeing the backlash
that does seem like a little excessive, you can get replacement side and spider gears fairly cheap..but ive seen much worse..
ive got one at the shop thats way worse than that, but its getting a trutrac in it..

also on your tooth mesh pattern, your pinion is to deep , move and reset backlash
Used gears can be a pain