Rear end troubles
 

I have a '79 with 67,000 miles. I recently brought the car in for an alignment and the technician noticed play at the axle drive shafts, that is, the slip yoke moves in and out of the differential housing about 3/8" on both sides. This is made possible with the rear weight off the rear wheels, grabbing the rear tire at the 12:00 o’clock position, and pushing and pulling on the tire. Is this normal or should there be no play at all?

Steve

It is a slip joint not unlike a drive shaft. You need that movement so that the shaft moves in and out to shorten or lengthen with the movement of the suspension.

Thanks C3 Starship. That makes sense to me; maybe the alignment guys are not familiar with the corvette suspension. They made it seem like my rear end was worn out and so they did not want to align the car.

3/8" sounds like a lot to me. But can't honestly say I've ever checked it thought I would've noticed that much play when disconnecting the outer U-joint from the spindle.

Didn't want to? That's BS! Heck, they don't know how to do it.
Very few alignment shops even know where to start.

Does the 3/8" end play sound right to you? The shop will align the car if I want them to, but now they will look like idiots if I tell them it's normal. Maybe I need to go to another shop. Where do you start when aligning these cars? I'm concerned about the rear camber.