My 2000ish JCB 802.4 has a lot of play between the slew motor pinion gear and the ring gear. This causes the house to move a couple of degrees freely side to side at all times. At the bucket this play is 20cm 8". Both gears don't seem worn out at all to me, they are just not meshing close enough. I don't have any experience in operating an excavator, but this play just seems excessive... It seems to me this play could easily be eliminated by shimming the slew motor more towards the ring gear, however it seems this is not possible. The slew motor is held in position by locating pins and bolted down. There is no way to move it I don't think... I have the service manual and can't find anything about this type of play. I have googled around and can't find any solutions. See the attached video I took from underneath the machine looking up. How could I fix this? Any advice? Is this common?
Is there anybody with info on this problem?