Play where front axle meets transmission

Maintenance/Repairs
1

My car is a 2009 chevy cobalt with a 2.2L engine and an automatic transmission.
I was servicing the front end of my car today and noticed how much play there was where the front passenger axle goes into the transmission. I double checked and the axle seems to be completely inserted into the transmission. I replaced the axle about 4 months ago and I don’t remember any play then. Here’s a link to a video of the problem. The clunking you hear isn’t from the u-joint but from where it goes into the transmission.

https://imgur.com/gallery/Y1eIE3t?

Do I need a new transmission, would a rebuild kit fix the problem? Is there a replaceable part that would fix this? Any help is greatly appreciated!

2

There has to be some play between the transmission and the hub b/c that distance changes as you turn the steering wheel and the car goes over bumps. When you test for in-out play are you pulling on the inner cv joint housing? Or on the drive shaft itself?

3

I’m pulling on the part I’m moving around in the video. The part that goes into the transmission

4

It looks like the sleeve bushing may be missing from the stub shaft in the transmission. Did the stub shaft come out of the transmission when you removed the old axle assembly?

5

On this side the stub shaft did come out with the axle. I transferred it to the new axle and popped back in.