FD spline: wear in snap-ring groove

[Cyrus]

Hi, I'm replacing the pivot bearings with the bushing kit from a well-known outlet. All is proceeding well thanks to to the information available on this forum.

However, I noticed a fair amount of axial play in the UJ where it is held by the snap ring on the splined FD input shaft. Hopefully my pic shows the enlarged snap ring groove but even if it doesn't you get the idea! The splines have been worn towards the front end of the shaft. Obviously there is going to be a certain amount of play but this is way more than I would expect.

Can anybody tell me how much this matters? I'm not in for replacing the bevel gear am I?

 

[Slipperyeel]

Can you give us a better picture?

 

[Cyrus]

Strangely tricky to depict with my camera. Closer inspection reveals that the groove is in fact slightly asymmetrical - the leading lip of the groove is rounded instead of the more angular profile of the after lip. There was rather a clunky axial movement before disassembly, about 5 or 6 mm as per the marks in the second photo.

I realise that there is a certain amount of play in the mechanism, but wiggling the the drive shaft gives a much more snug amount of play at the gearbox end which just feels correct.

So how much should I worry about the sloppy snap-ring and the resultant wear in the groove? Bevel gear replacement sounds costly.

R1100GS 1995 80000 miles