play in rear wheel - bearings... or worse?

[monkeyman]

Hi all. I have been reading through a few posts about the rear wheel bearings and had a look through the Atlantic Z Car club article on changing them.

I am not sure my problem is bearings though.

I was under my '75 260Z (Australian). I had it jacked up on stands with the hand brake on in readiness to swap the gearbox with a rebuilt one, and I was testing the uni-joints (I have a vibration when I release the accelerator at about 100kph). They seem ok (still planning to change them though).

I noticed I had some play in the diff. I think I have always had some play, this is normal, right?

What I noticed that concerns me is play in one wheel. I would rotate the propeller shaft backward and forward, neither wheel would move but the half shaft all the way up to the wheel flange on one wheel would move a little (only one wheel), as if the axle inside the wheel had some play. Is this possible? Is it just worn bearings letting the axle move or are the splines damaged?

Anyone had this before?

[Arne]

You don't mention whether the axle flange itself moves with the halfshaft or or not. But from your description, it sounds to me as if you either have worn splines on that side, or possibly a worn u-joint on that side. If the axle flange is moving and the wheel is not, that would normally indicate bad splines.

Edit: Here's a question - did you have the wheels bolted on the car when you tested this? If not, the drum could have been locked up, but the outer axle stub can still move a bit in the lug holes of the drum.