14 SS Driver side Axle Play - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

Jrowland95 · 12-08-2025, 06:46 PM

I’ve been having an issue for a while where I was blowing through driver side axles. It’s a stock L99 with a tune, so it’s not too much car for the axles. Anyway, I noticed the driver side Axle had a bit of up and down play @the diff where the passenger side is completely stiff. This weekend I tore the diff apart and changed the carrier bearings, finally reassembled today and have pretty much the same amount of up and down play. Has anyone had this issue? Does the carrier need to be replaced? Everything looked great when it was apart; slight slight pitting on the spider gears. Pinion was tight no noise or play when spinning it. Ring gear looked great. Trying to upload a video from my phone, I’d say it’s 1/8” total up and down play in the axle. Also the last axle I pulled out of the driver side had obviously gotten pretty hot so I’m just trying to figure out if the play is normal and the bearing was killing my axles or if I should be expecting the new axle to give out sooner than later and just need to do additional repairs/replacement.

Jrowland95 · 12-08-2025, 06:57 PM

https://youtu.be/tUWMJjalWJA?si=Uy6b4eEtD3O1Gi-w

That’s the video. Also the metal clanging noise is not the axle or the rear end 😂. I’m not sure what I was tapping on but the axle movement is pretty quiet. The movement up and down also isn’t enough to create a leak if that matters.

CamaroCracka · 12-10-2025, 06:59 AM

If the caps are good, which I would think you would have noticed if they were bad when you changed bearings, it sounds like the carrier. You could pull the axle and see if you can get the splined receptacle to move around. Maybe you can see what is going on without pulling it all apart.

Jrowland95 · 12-10-2025, 11:45 AM

I'll have to pull the axle this weekend. I'm assuming it's the carrier. When i tore the diff apart I checked to see if there was a ton of backlash between the ring and pinion and it felt pretty good. I should have put a gauge on it and measured it while it was apart, but I say that to say, when I did finally get the axles back into the car, I was able to rotate the axle/wheel a decent bit. Definitely was able to rotate forward and backward farther than just the pinion backlash, so I'm assuming most of that play is coming from the LSD.

12-08-2025, 06:46 PM	#1
Jrowland95 Drives: 2014 camaro ss l99 Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: Louisiana Posts: 42	14 SS Driver side Axle Play I’ve been having an issue for a while where I was blowing through driver side axles. It’s a stock L99 with a tune, so it’s not too much car for the axles. Anyway, I noticed the driver side Axle had a bit of up and down play @the diff where the passenger side is completely stiff. This weekend I tore the diff apart and changed the carrier bearings, finally reassembled today and have pretty much the same amount of up and down play. Has anyone had this issue? Does the carrier need to be replaced? Everything looked great when it was apart; slight slight pitting on the spider gears. Pinion was tight no noise or play when spinning it. Ring gear looked great. Trying to upload a video from my phone, I’d say it’s 1/8” total up and down play in the axle. Also the last axle I pulled out of the driver side had obviously gotten pretty hot so I’m just trying to figure out if the play is normal and the bearing was killing my axles or if I should be expecting the new axle to give out sooner than later and just need to do additional repairs/replacement.

12-10-2025, 06:59 AM	#3
CamaroCracka Drives: 2010 Turbo LS3 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Palm Bay, FL Posts: 3,041	If the caps are good, which I would think you would have noticed if they were bad when you changed bearings, it sounds like the carrier. You could pull the axle and see if you can get the splined receptacle to move around. Maybe you can see what is going on without pulling it all apart. __________________ 2010 SS - Kind of an On3 kit, CTR 78/80, CompCam 239/251 620/632 122+4, E85, Z28 suspension and ZL1 diff with Outlaw axles. Gen6 ZL1 brakes. 2011 Vert - 416/w 230/236 .612/.602 115lsa, 1LE suspension w/32mm rear bar. Z28 diff. Gen6 ZL1 brakes.

12-08-2025, 06:57 PM	#2
Jrowland95 Drives: 2014 camaro ss l99 Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: Louisiana Posts: 42	https://youtu.be/tUWMJjalWJA?si=Uy6b4eEtD3O1Gi-w That’s the video. Also the metal clanging noise is not the axle or the rear end 😂. I’m not sure what I was tapping on but the axle movement is pretty quiet. The movement up and down also isn’t enough to create a leak if that matters.

12-10-2025, 11:45 AM	#4
Jrowland95 Drives: 2014 camaro ss l99 Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: Louisiana Posts: 42	I'll have to pull the axle this weekend. I'm assuming it's the carrier. When i tore the diff apart I checked to see if there was a ton of backlash between the ring and pinion and it felt pretty good. I should have put a gauge on it and measured it while it was apart, but I say that to say, when I did finally get the axles back into the car, I was able to rotate the axle/wheel a decent bit. Definitely was able to rotate forward and backward farther than just the pinion backlash, so I'm assuming most of that play is coming from the LSD.