rear end
 

Some advice on the c-clip rears needed. My old 7 1/4 rear was making lots of noise. The axles had about 1/4" play in/out, plus the bearings had chewed into the axles. While aquiring another rear end from an 84 5.0, 5 spd. car, I decided to check all of the other cars and noticed that every one I checked also had the in/out play, just not as bad as my origional one. I know that the c-clip axles will have some play, but how much is allowable and how does one go about adjusting it. None of my books go into this. I have replaced the bearings in the recently aquired axle but the play concerns me. Really don't want to loose an axle on the freeway.

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Every one I have here (3) does the same thing. It's caused by the wear on the differential housing and I don't think you can do anything about it. Except maybe a new differential. I looked all through the FORD manual on this and can't find anything about wear limits on these.