Front Drive shaft play?

Hey everyone, I’m working on a fj t case swap On my 2011 Tacoma 4wd and I noticed my front drive shaft has a real noticeable play just by me pushing up on it where the splines are. If I collapse it about an inch I noticed the play is gone.

Has anyone had an issue like this? Any recommendations of what to do? I’m not sure if my front drive shaft is shot and need a new one. Or I need a driveline spacer? But not sure why since when lifting IFS the front drive shaft shouldn’t change Lengths like the rear does. Any suggestions would be appreciated I’m kinda stumped and looked all over and couldn’t find anything about this.

I marked it and took it apart to see what’s going on in the side and clean out all the junk inside it since by boot was torn also and allowed grime inside over time.
I will try to post the video soon, I just need to figure out how.

 

Replace the boot and pack with grease again. There is some ford stuff that people use forget the name of it. But it looks dry and definitely got moisture in there and rusted a bit. Try and clean the rust up as best you can. There is always going to be a little bit of play on splines like that which is normal. But not an excessive amount. The grease should help. I'd look at replacing the U-joints while you have it out if that's what your slip yoke looks like.

 

ya I cleaned it out and re packed it with grease and put back on the truck to see if the play went away but it didn’t. That is the video link I just posted showing the amount of play. Hopefully that’s normal play but I have a buddy who said he doesn’t have that much play in his.

And thanks ya I will clean the rust off for sure I just haven’t yet. And good idea on replacing the u joints they don’t have play at the moment but probably still good replace them.

 

Yeah I just saw the video that's a fair amount of play. You can check with a local drive shaft shop see how much they'd charge you to put a new slip joint/yoke on it.

 

Looks fine to me, grease that pig up and send it.

 

The blue plastic stuff is worn off. My Ford mud truck is like that on the front driveshaft and I flog the hell out of it. It’s not like you’re going to be doing 70mph in 4hi. If it was the rear driveshaft, I would be concerned about vibration. For the front driveshaft, I wouldn't be that worried about it. If it really bothers you, buy a used driveshaft or go to a driveshaft shop and have them replace both parts of the slip yoke with one that doesn’t have plastic.

 

Thanks guys! I appreciate the feedback! I just wanted to make sure I’m not gonna jack something up. I’m going to buy a new boot kit from northern drivetrain and repack with grease. And test it out off road. And I’ll reevaluate It afterwards. Thanks again!