Drive flange rotational play - how much?

I've just swapped the flanges on the rear axle of my 300tdi 110.

There was a fair bit of rotational play. The new flanges have reduced it to about 1/3 of what it was, but (subjectively I know) it still seems to be more than I hoped would remain.

The shaft splines neither look nor feel damaged.

Is some noticeable rotational play to be expected here, or should the parts bond up solidly?

Thank you.

They tend to have so much slack even when they are good you cannot believe they are not shagged!

lynall said:

They tend to have so much slack even when they are good you cannot believe they are not shagged!

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Thank you.

I don't know if I feel good or bad about mine now!

You have to remember it is the total slack you can feel, so drive flange and diff. I think if it was tight a lot of friction would be created and it would soon wear.

I pulled the shaft out when testing and held the back of it in one hand and wobbled the flange with the other, so I am looking at the flange to shaft play alone.

Could you take photos of the shaft and flange. It would be useful to see any wear.

Dr Strangeglove said:

Could you take photos of the shaft and flange. It would be useful to see any wear.

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I actually got my phone out when I was doing it and it ran out of power and wouldn't work. Was going to take some video.

I'll take it apart again in a bit and see if I can't do better.

There's always a lot more slack than you'd think would be decent. The flanges are typically not made out of quite such hard metal as the shafts so they're the bit that tends to wear. Some models had one piece halfshafts with an integral flange and some people recommend fitting these, which tightens things up a bit.