that's totally normal.
the shaft is not solid.
behind the bell housing there's a splined junction ..
that allows the up-down side-to-side play you feel.  Totally normal.

with the shaft in the pilot bearing in the crankshaft ..
and being in the clutch disc splines ...it holds it well enough to transfer
drive to the 'real' mainshaft of the trans without a problem.

be real careful to get a dust seal in place with your pilot bearing.
I have seen many missing ..
and clutch dust eats out the pilot bearing in just a couple years sometimes
with no dust seal.

the nose of the shaft is a bearing surface...
defenitely a 'cheapness' thing by VW ....( most cars use a 'real' bearing
with inner race and the input shaft just sticks inside the inner race
....the shaft itself is not a bearing surface. Bad VW. )

thos shafts are semi rare and valuable to me ...
so ...take good care of that bearing surface on the nose of it.

you should be able to see how it's arranged in the Bently manual  - the
spined junction that's behind the bell housing.
Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ry" <rylincoln@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 10:06 PM
Subject: Regarding the input shaft of transmission

> So I just removed my engine
> today<http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/SUoa0ucbBD-pO0V6d2PiTQ?feat=directlink>and
> the input shaft of the transmission(which is a rebuilt one installed <
> 1
> year ago and < 10000 miles ago) anyhow I can wiggle the input shaft maybe
> 1
> or 2 mm(up/down/left/right)... is this normal?  seems to me it should be
> nice and tight.... like NO play.
>
> feedback appreciated.
>
> thanks,
> -Ry
> http://www.google.com/profiles/rylincoln