Series 2A Pinion Shaft Question

[Poppy1969]

Hello. Question on my pinion shaft. 1969 2A 88". Below is a link to a short video showing my front differential pinion play. I have redone the pinion oil seal on my rear diff but on the front diff there is a bit more play and movement that I am not sure about. I do not recollect how the rear pinion shaft felt. With no preload and the outer bearing removed obviously there is some movement and play in the pinion shaft. Let me know if this looks worrisome at all. Especially when I rotate the pinion shaft there is a bit of a "notchy" noise? I also get a bit of in/out movement maybe 1/8". I had the differential carrier apart a few months ago and everything looked good. There were no bits of metal or anything like that. The differential turned freely without any noise and felt solid (with the pinion nut still torqued). No noticeable backlash by feel. I did notice the front diff did not have the original Timken bearing in place. So someone was in this diff sometime in the past 52 years. My biggest concern is that the inner pinion bearing might be worn. I guess I might have to brace myself that I might have to dig deeper into this front diff than I wanted.
Thanks in advance for help. Cheers, Tom

https://youtu.be/dX80DXNCuvg

[dhager]

Seems like it should not be that easy to rotate the pinion shaft as you are doing, because it is directly linked to the axles through the crown gear. You don't say or show in the video if axles are in place and your wheel hubs are turning, but I would guess they are not. Is what we are seeing only the diff gears themselves spinning?

[Poppy1969]

Hello. Apology for not clarifying. The axle is still disassembled. So no hubs, no axle shafts. I do have a update that I think makes me feel better. After watching several YouTube videos of these diffs being rebuilt I had assumed (wrongly) that the pinion shaft is supported by a inner and outer bearing and some surface that would have a thrust washer for support. This is why I expected the pinion shaft to be held in place more with no lateral movement. Well the pinion shaft is supported by just the inner and outer bearings. And the inner bearing (and outer bearing the one I can take out) is a angled race bearing that needs to be setup via end float to setup the correct support for the pinion shaft. I had thought that the inner bearing was a one piece bearing and that angular movement would indicate a fault with the inner bearing. This is good news. I took a close look inside the best I can and if I pull the pinion shaft up tight everything seems to look good. I think the "notchy" sound is me turning the pinion shaft and the pinion gears and the crown wheel gears are not meshing correct. So it makes sense that it kind of feels lumpy while turning. I think I am ok to go ahead put it all back together. I think on the rear diff I did not notice any of this.

UPDATE!!!!! I put it all back together pinion nut torqued to 85ft/lbs and everything looks fine.