What causes slip yoke play?

I am having vibration caused by excessive play at the slip yoke on my A4. I took the transmission out and had it completely rebuilt last year so I am not expecting that anything inside the trans is worn out already. At the time, I never replaced the yoke and it has 342,000 miles on it. When I rebuilt the motor this past winter, I replaced the motor mounts with poly and thats when I started to notice the vibration.

I believe the slip yoke is worn out but I wanted to know what else could be worn to cause play in the slip yoke? Is there a bushing that the yoke slides inside in the tailshaft housing that could be worn? Could the tailshaft itself be worn?. Would the transmission need to be removed for either of these items to be replaced if they are worn?

What else could cause play in the tailshaft itself? Thanks for the advice.

there should be a bushing in the tail shaft. i would replace the bushing, tail shaft seal, and slip yoke.

I found a drawing which showed the bushing in the extension housing. I bought a new one and it fits pretty snuggly over my slip yoke so I think all the play is in the U-joint, not the slip yoke. Scott, from driveline solutions, told me the clearance should be around 0.007 +/- 0.001 and that is about right so I think I am OK.

I replaced the u-joints and everyting seems fine. I am feeling a little more vibration than before I changed to the poly motor and trans mounts. I still have a fairly new OEM trans mount so I may change back to it to make sure there is no other vibration problem.

Thanks for the response.

its prolly the bushing in the tailshaft. if you grab the slip yolk can you move it up and down at all, when it is in the trans

I replaced the motor mounts with poly and thats when I started to notice the vibration.



Can you move the yolk when its inside the transmission?

Originally I thought the yoke was moving inside the housing. After I replaced the u-joints, there is very little movement. I think it was actually the u-joint that was moving. While I had the slip yoke separated from the DS, I put the slip yoke back in the trans and it felt pretty good. I bought a new bushing and seals with the intent of replacing it all but when I slid the new bushing over the slip yoke, it felt pretty tight. I decided not to replace the bushing.

your confusing me. you slid the new bushing over the slip yolk and because there was no play in the new bushing you did not replace the old bushing?

I wanted to see what the clearance should feel like with a new bushing and wanted to know how worn my slip yoke was so I slipped a new bushing onto the shaft of the slip yoke while it was out of the car. Since there was not too much play, I believe the yoke is not too worn. I used a feeler guage also.

I think my prolem was strictly u-joint related.

ok, but the yolk usually does not wear it the bushing that does so putting a new bushing on the slip yolk when it is out of the car will tell you nothing.

but maybe you are right and you fixed the problem you were having by replacing the u-joint

best of luck with it

How difficult is it to change the tailshaft bushing? Any thing out of the ordinary like having something pressed in? Brad

ok, but the yolk usually does not wear it the bushing that does so putting a new bushing on the slip yolk when it is out of the car will tell you nothing.

but maybe you are right and you fixed the problem you were having by replacing the u-joint

best of luck with it

Thanks for the help. I was only trying to determine how much play there would between the yoke and a new bushing "if" I replaced the bushing. Looks like I won't need to after all but I bought all the seals and the bushing. :)

How difficult is it to change the tailshaft bushing? Any thing out of the ordinary like having something pressed in? Brad

I didn't actually do it but it looks kind of simple. Just support the trans on a floor jack, remove the speed sensor connector and drive shaft. Maybe remove the speed sensor which can be difficult without damage but might not be necessary. Remove 4 bolts holding housing on.

Replace extension to trans housing seal, drive out old bushing and carefully drive in new one with correct diameter bushing driver. Then replace tailshaft seal. I think that is all there is but I haven't done it myself, just read the manual and looked it over.

Hope that helps.