Driveline Slack/Play

Constant Mesh · Aug 28, 2017

My '04 FJR has a lot of drive-line play. Don't know if it's increased much since new. Seems like it's changed.

I measured it today in 1st gear using a plumb-bob dangling from the left footrest.

The front-to-rear play in the drive-line was 2.5 inches.

May be typical. Driveshaft U-joint appears to be tight and smooth.

FJRay · Aug 28, 2017

If that's 2.5 inches of wheel travel it really isn't much when you consider all the clearances in the related gear trains. I wouldn't worry even a little.

wfooshee · Aug 29, 2017

Yeah, that amount is a small rotation of the rear wheel, and between there and the clutch you have this list of meshing components: the spline of the wheel to the hub, the helical final drive, the splines of the driveshaft and the u-joint, the u-joint itself, the 90-degree bevel to the middle gear shaft, the middle gear shaft to the output wheel of the transmission, the two wheels of the selected gear in the transmission, and the dogs that engage that selected gear. There is also the middle gear shaft's cam mechanism for driveline stress relief, although I doubt there's actually any play in that, it's still a designed-in flexible place.