Prop shaft turned by hand in gear

[airportable]

Hi all.
has discovered that there is play in the front 
prop shaft when in gear, can be turned 3cm by hand is that okay what is normal play

 

[Snagger]

That sounds relatively normal - the front output shaft of the transfer box connects to the main shaft with a fairly loose fitting dog clutch to make selection and deselection of 4wd easy, especially selecting 4wd while moving.  The diffs also allow a surprising amount of rotational play, and this is compounded by wear on the half shaft splines at the drive flange and worn drive flanges themselves.  Wear in the diff or the diff ends of the shafts is not usually severe on vehicles that haven’t been run without oil or water ingress, especially front axles.  It may be worth putting it up on stands and checking for play on the wheels with someone locking the front prop still (a bar through the yolks does the job).  Expect about three inches of rotation at the tyre tread.