Is it normal for front axles to have some jiggle where they sit into tranny when the weight of the car is taken off the wheels? I have front end noise and this is the only loose condition I can find. Sitting normally on the ground they are tight.

I'm hoping that maybe the driver side inboard CV joint is bad. The other axle is new and it is easily accessible from under the hood for inspection purposes. The driver side is original (356,000) and it isn't accessible from up top. And I can't get to it on the ground without jacking up the car so I don't really know if it is tight with the load on it. So my new question is, hoping for an axle problem, if the axle fit is loose could this be an inboard CV joint problem and not a tranny problem? (If you see my other post, I have an acceleration sound coming from underneath center.)
Thanks

 

your axle is bad if you can wiggle the shaft up and down. there are tight clearances on half shafts race/ball bearings. the whirring sound is most likely coming from tranny...could be throw out bearing. the reason you arent getting play from the half shaft while sitting is because all the weight is on it locking it in the up or down position. if you were strong enough you could still wiggle it....but you would need to be able to pick up a car no problem.