Hi guys, I have never worked with 700R4s before now. I noticed when I was installing my used, supposedly good 700R4, that I could grab the output shaft and wiggle it around with my hand. Is this normal? I wasn't sure if the trans yoke bearing against the output bearing supported the shaft, so the shaft floats, or if it should be rigid and there is a problem with my trans. I just drove the car around a big parking lot today and it goes into drive and reverse and seems to drive okay, but I want to make sure before I take this thing any distance if I have a time bomb on my hands or not.

 

Depends how much it moves. The shaft rides on a bushing. It can't be tight or it will seize up but it can't be real loose or the rear seal will start to leak.

 

How much is normal wiggle? It was enough wiggle that when I was expecting the shaft not to deflect at all it scared the hell out of me. I'm guessing it was around 1/8" side to side wiggle? This wasn't the amount of play I would expect from something riding on a bushing. Is the bushing up front and the rear of the shaft is unsupported except for the driveshaft riding in the rear bushing holding it up?

 

1/8 is the amount of wiggle. The clearance is much tighter. Sounds like it is good. The case bushing is the one wiggling. It supports the output shaft. The bushing in the tail housing supports the driveshaft yoke.