Series 3 Play on splines. Change the half shaft?

There is some play between the hub plate and the half shaft splines on both my rears. Ie when I extracted the shaft, with the plate still on and leaving the castle nut done up, I can rotate the shaft relative to the plate. It's not massive but doesn't feel right. Before I spend more money at Paddocks, can anyone tell me if a little play is normal, or should it be pretty close fit?
The diff end looks OK, just some tiny marks but no big deformations on the splines. Both ends are 10 spline.
Also, any watch outs when refitting? When I pulled it apart it had silicone gasket everywhere, including the bolt threads, so I'll replace with a regular gasket.
I pulled it apart because I get a little "donk" noise when coming off the accelerator and thought it could be the shafts.
Thanks

The drive flange [ hub plate ] is where the wear usually is, not the shaft. Try new flanges first. Easy enough to see if shaft splines are worn though.
Smear new paper gasket with grease when fitting, next time things come apart no trouble.

tottot said:

The drive flange [ hub plate ] is where the wear usually is, not the shaft. Try new flanges first. Easy enough to see if shaft splines are worn though.
Smear new paper gasket with grease when fitting, next time things come apart no trouble.

Click to expand...

Wish I'd taken the drive flange off now and inspected the splines at that end. The flange looks to be quite hard, so I had imagined the shaft would wear first. Cheers!

Mine seems to be able to rall back at least a foot on the transmission play alone. When I got it 5 years ago it worried me, now its just part of the charm, (unless you are behind me on a hill start....)

tottot said:

The drive flange [ hub plate ] is where the wear usually is, not the shaft. Try new flanges first. Easy enough to see if shaft splines are worn though.

Click to expand...

+1
I've just done the rears on mine today after a strip down to renew leaking hub seals, half shafts in pretty good nick, but flange splines were more like pointy teeth than splines. Its taken a bit of transmission slop out though.

New flanges (I hope they are higher quality than the low price suggests) and other bits ordered, no shafts though - will see how they go. I was getting worried for them failing and wanted to catch any wear before it's an issue. It has a Perkins 4.203 with high torque, and I had an offroading day recently...
Cheers

Nice to hear of someone else still running a 4.203. I really like mine and have done aound 12,000 miles in the past 5 years, mostly on the road. It does have a lot of torque (mine is a rebuilt engine) and I did expect some half-shaft problems but none so far. The spine wear is low but I think there is the begining of a twist on both rear shafts (wish I'd scribed a line when I first got it). I suspect mine has had the Perkins for around 30+ years - it would have been fitted in the 80's so the transmission seems to be able to cope.

I think mine has had a Perkins for most of its life too; the only thing I don't like is the stink, and on a cold morning the white smoke is something else. It must be a bit worn, but it works well and doesn't need an MOT!

I rebuilt my engine about 18 months ago - new pistons, liners, bottom end - £220 for all the parts, came in a big box as a kit. Mine still smokes on a cold morning, takes a good mile or two then its fine. I believe its the pre-chambers taking time to warm up, the fuel condenses on the sides and doesn't burn. Does your flame start work? I got mine working well and it does reduce the smoke a bit when it first starts. When I rebuilt the engine it was dated inside the sump - 1969 so it looks like these engines were being swapped over when they were 10 -15 years old. I think they came out of Dodge/Commer Step-Thru vans which were a bit under powered. I get a good 30mpg laden on a LWB and 25mpg towing so I'm very happy with it.

£220 for a rebuild kit sounds pretty good value and it seems many parts are still available, often from tractor spares places since they were fitted to Massey tractors I think. The fuel pump on mine suggests it is a 1970 or 71.

Just found the Commer details, they had the 4.203 or 4.236 as options. The 4.203 version has GVWs up to 4.9T. That must have been slow on hills!