[98 V70 M56] Drivetrain slack

[Goupil]

Hello folks,

I've been driving a few cars that aren't my V70 lately, and that made me notice how much slack there is in the drivetrain of the old wagon It's a 98 V70 fwd with an M56 gearbox, so it has 850 style driveshafts (single nut instead of bolts)

Gear changes tends to be jerky because of that slack, but doesn't really make any noise.

All the engine mounts have been replaced recently and a visual inspection doesn't show any noticeable wear.
Clutch (Sachs 850R) has done 8000 miles, flywheel was converted to single mass a long time ago.

That leads me to believe the issue is either in the gearbox (unknown mileage as it has been replaced by PO) or the driveshafts (which looks like the original ones).
If there's any axial play in the shafts, should I be able to feel it by hand with the car on jackstands

I have a spare set of driveshafts somewhere in the garage, might swap them in to see if that makes a difference

[scot850]

I would be looking at the CV joints. Jack the car and support it. Lie under the car and rock the wheels back and forward and look for movement in the joints.

Neil.

[Goupil]

Got the car on jackstands today. I could feel some play in the RH joints, the LH felt solid but both gaiters were torn !

Swapped the spare LH shaft I had and it already feels much tighter to drive

I'll order parts to rebuild a set of shafts for peace of mind later

[scot850]

Well done getting into looking at this before it became a big issue!

Good Luck with the re-builds.

Neil.

[Goupil]

Well, back to weird: I've changed the wheels and it somehow reduced the drivetrain slack even more
Not complaining but I dont understand

Same wheel bolts, same torque, just changed the wheels Went from Titans to 16" steelies.