My wife and I gave our son and daughter-in-law our 1998 Olds Aurora. The engine had it's regular problems. He has repaired all of these. He now says that the rt. front axel has about 3/4" of play before the lf. axel will turn. Is this a common problem or is there nothing wrong with the trans? He says that the CV joints are fine. My wife did hit a curb on the rt. side. That was why we gave it to them. The car is in beautiful condition. The car has 150,000 miles on it. Help. Our daughter-in-law is gonna kill him if he doesn't get the car back to her.

 

That will be fairly normal. When you twist the axle on one side, you have to move the spider and axle gears in the differential, and they have quite a bit of slack in them normally. Add all of the slop up, and get what might appear to be excessive play, but it's really not. If there are no noises, and no leaks on either axle, you're probably good.

 

Well, I relayed what you had said to my son. Now he tells me that it is making a terrible noise and that the right output shaft has about a 1/4" of play up and down. The CV joint is OK. Just where the output shaft comes out of the trans. It sounds like a bearing or maybe the case is cracked. That is the side that my wife went over the curb with.

 

The differential cover and diff can be removed in the car, to inspect it. You'll need to remove the axle first, then the 5 bolts that hold the cover to the trans. From there, you should be able to see what kind of damage there is, and decide how to repair it. If the diff is damaged, you can replace it easily, but it HAS to be the same ratio. The ring gear for the diff is also replaceable from there, if it is damaged.