But Mad North-Northwest
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
There should be zero play between the pinion and crown gear, maybe that's what he's thinking of. But in both my Spiders the total play in the other differential gears when you turn the driveshaft is about the same as you're describing. Neither of them make significant noise or have had any issues in tens of thousands of miles.
If the pinion wears (even a tiny bit) you'll know it because you'll get differential whine. It's annoying and can't be fixed short of disassembly, but it's not indicative of impending failure: the noise'll drive you nuts long before the diff goes.
I guess your mechanic thought the rotation was play in the pinion? Which I can't imagine could really be possible given the tight tolerances of the pinion to the crown gear.
Anyway, in the absence of clunking or noises or some other issue it sounds like your diff is just like mine and has no problems.
1963 Giulia Spider (1750 engine)
Last edited by Gubi; 12-11-2013 at 05:52 PM.