Rear axle moving in and out of axle housing about 1/4 inch. any ideas?

Rear passenger side axle is moving in and out of the housing about a 1/4 inch. Bearings and seals seem fine but is there something inside the differential I should be worried about

 

Rear axles are held in by the bearing on these trucks. Get that thing out and inspect.

 

Will do. You think maybe the bearing is worn?

 

check to see if the axle bearing case is tightened on the axle housing all the way, if it is, remove the axle and inspect the bearing retaining ring and snap ring and the bearing. between these 4 items, the bearing, and thereby the axle, should be pinched and locked in place and there should be no lateral movement at all whatsoever.

 

Thanks I'll post what I find

 

Did you just get this truck??

 

No I have had it for 4 years and had brothers driving it before me. The rear bearings have slack in them and I have the axles out. Any tips on removing the bearing? Snap rings are off.

 

Almost 300k miles

 

The bearing should be pressed on and off with a press.

Although some people claim to be able to remove them hitting the axle on the ground

I have a press so never tried other methods

 

I have a press and used it. I have the axles bearings and seals all back in and there is no more play. Thanks for all the help

 

good you caught it before the bearing failed

 

holy shit someone with their own press. how did you get the old bearing off? you usually need a special tool to get that off

 

I'm curious as well.

 

i made my own tool last time i did it lol. simular to the one above

 

I have a press with up to a six ft space between the base and cylinder. I put two pieces of half inch t1 steel between the hub itself and the bearing housing. Then stood it up with studs facing down and put the spline side of the axle toward the press side with a block of wood between the spline and press. It took a good bit of pressure to pop the retaining ring but once it broke free it came out easily. Once the axle was out I took the bearing housing and tapped the bearing out with a brass punch cleaned it and tapped the new bearing in. I then slid the bearing housing back over the axle and put back on the press. I found a peice of pipe the size of the race of the bearing but it back on the press and pressed the bearing housing and retaining ring back on then it was a peice of cake after that

 

This was my last problem have all new front and rear now

 

you didn't mention putting a snap ring on though.......

 

I did replace both snap rings with new ones also

 

both snap rings? there's only 1 snap ring holding the retaining ring and bearing in place

 

Both as in one on each side