Yes, the shaft rattles, but that only has the saddle attached to it.? This does not affect the worm and ring gear engagement since that is set by a separate set of bearings that do not wriggle.? Thus it will not affect backlash.
I briefly looked for a 1.25" ID 2" OD bearing (which would constrain the shaft relative to the black anodized body), but could not find one.? That's weird, since I know of several metric bearings (on bicycles) that are of even thinner profile.
In any case, you can't preload / adjust a needle bearing radially, so it hardly solves the problem.
Also, even though this joint CAN rattle, in practice it doesn't because the pre-loaded thrust needle bearing (at the clutch knob) constrain radial movements against small forces.
I don't care about pointing accuracy since I have never even bothered to align my telescope's dovetail with the optical axis.? I use plate solving anyway, so no big deal.
