Carrier bearing and trans axle questions

[qtherampage]

So I was poking around under my 1984 Tercel 4WD SR5 Wagon today, looking for the source of a rattling sound, and I found that if I grabbed the carrier bearing, I could wiggle back and forth maybe 1/4th of an inch, and I could grab the bases of the left and right front trans axles and wiggle them around maybe 1/8th of an inch. Is this normal? How much sway should there be in the carrier bearing and the trans axles? Could there be something going on inside where I can't see, where the trans axles meet the engine body? Or maybe in the housing around the middle of the carrier bearing?

[xirdneh]

sounds normal to me
when exactly and under what conditions does it rattle

[Petros]

the carrier bearing is mounted on a large flexible rubber mount, that is why you can move it around. This is normal. the only way to know if it is bad if you get a roar or grinding noise out of it when you drive. It is very noticeable, it comes up through the floor right behind the seats.

If you jack up the rear and rotate the driveshaft, you may be able to feel if this bearing runs smoothly, or if it is bad. I suspect though it would have to be really bad before you can feel it grinding by hand without removing it. Likely you would hear the bearing roar through the floor.