Driveshaft rattle?

[pit viper]

I have a 2.7 A6, but I thought maybe you guys in here would have more insight.

The car has a rattle in the driveshaft whenever I accelerate. This is the first non-FWD car I've owned, so I figured I should check it out. I crawled under the car, and checked the shaft at the rear diff. Everything seems tight.
Then I crawled up front, and where the driveshaft attaches to the tranny, it wiggles a little side-to-side and makes a nice metal-on-metal clanking. Also, there is some front-to-back movement of the shaft, and though I'm not sure if it's supposed to do that or not.

If I'm not mistaken, there should be a joint where the shaft hooks up to the tranny, correct? Is it replaceable seperately, or do I need to get a new shaft? Any other thoughts on what it might be, or do I seem on the money?

[blmlozz]

f I'm not mistaken, there should be a joint where the shaft hooks up to the tranny, correct? Is it replaceable seperately, or do I need to get a new shaft? Any other thoughts on what it might be, or do I seem on the money?

I would first see if the bolts from the driveshaft to the transmission are tight, if not, It's usually best to acutaly remove them and lube them up with at least blue locktight(but iirc when I removed mine it was wearing red locktight). The second place to look is the driveshaft support bearing, since it's a 2 piece drive-shaft, this is hiding behind the heatshield above the exhaust in the middle of the car. It's very rare for the drivetrain on the quattro system to suffer any sort of failure, so check these first.

[BurnAll4S4]

could be the center support bearing also, i would check that.