I have yet another question for the gurus in this forum.  I pulled my transmission to replace all seals/orings and found what seems to be "a lot" of play in the input shaft.  My semi-accurate measurement technique shows around 0.045" of play back and forth.  Is this normal.  None of the manuals I have give any sort of measurement on this.  The car has 125K miles on it.  Thanks!

Back and forth?? 

Is that in towards the case and back out or the shaft has slop side to side?

 

Side to side.  A better measuremet has it at about 0.030" 

A little side to side is normal. The pilot bushing, bearing in the end of the crankshaft aligns the input shaft.

Side to side.  I took a better measurement and its really about 0.030".  I think I feel better about it now.  thanks!

0.03" is acceptable. The front bearing is not a prsss fit, so you will always have a little movement in the clearance and the C3 tolerance in the bearing itself.

Like Mark said, the pilot bearing/bushing in the crankshaft aligns the input shaft. Check it before you fit the transmission. If it is a bronze bush, lightly grease it before installing the transmission. If it is a bearing, it should turn freely.

 If you haven't installed the pilot bushing, bearing, slide it onto the input shaft just to be sure it fits. Same advice for a new clutch disc. VOE.

Nissan has the stuff for that project all spread out in the FSM.  The pilot bushing is in Engine Mechanical, but it should be in Clutch or Transmission.  I've had one get stuck when installing, had to break it out and buy a new one.  Wide tolerances on aftermarket parts.

To Mark's point, you might have to wire brush the splines on the input shaft, so the disc slides easily.  They get rusty and gummed up.

And if you get a new clutch kit, make sure it matches the sleeve.

Thanks for a the info. Great idea to make sure the splines are all clean before reinstalling.