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I was wondering how much play is supposed to be in any on the inner joint of the cv axle. I can move it freely with my hand but it springs back into relative place after, is that normal or does it sound worn? The cv axles are off a 95 dx civic. Since i do not have new ones to compare against I am nit sure. Thanks.
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If you mean the in and out play, once the little snap circlip has kinda latched the shaft in place, in theory, quite a bit of play is okay. You see there is no sealing on the side face of the joint, all the sealing is along the smooth section of the shaft. I have seen like up to 1/4 inch of play and never had a problem.
However, if the shaft is not perfectly smooth there can be issues, as if the shaft has coencentric grooves that is going to wear out the seal if the shaft can move in and out any noticeable amount.
The inner CV joints are actually called Plunge joints because the axle is allowed to plunge into it. The in and out movement has to be there as the suspension moves up and down the axle moves in and out of the joint. If it didn’t it would bind.
There are two joints here and they have different in and out limits.
The spline connection between the cv joint and the differential shaft is held in place by a light circlip and only is supposed to move a few millimeters.
The inner cv joint is designed to expand in and out several centimeters as the suspension goes up and down.
I’m not sure which the original poster is referring to.
In general you slide the spline shaft into the differential til the circlip catches and then that spacing stays locked in place, then you allow the inner cv joint to stretch as needed.
There should be almost no play in and out. It’s almost impossible to say how up and down play is normal. To my knowledge, there is no spec for that. I usually just compare it to the opposite side. When in doubt, I just replace them. To me they seem inexpensive enough to swap out if I suspect a problem. I cover the topic a bit in this article.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/determining-the-causes-of-vehicle-vibrations
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