Originally Posted by
Greg B
The pinion if loose on the driveshaft can only move one way and that's towards the diff. That's almost like putting shims behind the pinion.
While I don't like any movement either, the pinion moving towards the diff will actually tighten up the mesh.
I don't totally agree. When the ring gear and pinion are in a bind (on throttle) it is actually creating two different forces. One is causing the ring gear to be pushed away from the pinion and the other is causing the pinion to be pushed towards the front of the diff case in which both will lead to poor gear mesh and possible failure.