Originally Posted by
5.0Stanger
Not sure if you all have built a trans before, but here goes.
Most manual transmissions have a small amount of bearing preload, between the input shaft bearing and output shaft bearing. After a small amount of use, the bearings begin to wear in. This ends up creating a little forward/back and side-to-side play in the input and output shafts. You are able to get a more noticeable amount of play from the input shaft, because it is sticking out of the bearing retainer more than the output shaft is sticking out of the tailhousing. I'd say that anymore than .015" of forward/backward play in the shafts is ok for a well-worn trans. Racing for years like this, I'd be concerned, as the trans should be checked over once in a while.
That's my 2 cents.