I've been having some various clunking problems and it's now come down to the output shaft where the halfshafts mate to the differential. It has excessive play in and out.



I've been told it's probably the bearings inside the differential. My question is, how hard is it to replace these? Is it expensive? I'm not looking forward to dropping the differential already, but I just wanted to know if once the diff is dropped how hard it is to take it apart and replace the bearings. Also, I've been looking on mazdatrix and some other sites looking for "bearings" for the differential or output shaft and haven't come up with anything. If I were to go to the mazda dealership to buy this part will I be able to? Is there a precise name for it I should give them or should I just say the bearings for the output shaft in the differential?



Does the differential have to be rebuilt at this point? I'm just wondering if I'd be better off just buying a used LSD to replace the one I have now.

The Output Shaft bearing part numbers:



NA

TURBO 0118-27-350A