U-joints

I got a questions I just did my front U-joint in my 89 Cherokee and when we were finished I checked the drive shaft and it had a little bit of play from cap to cap on the new u-joint and I was just wondering is that normal or did we just not compress the caps enough.

If the cap retaining clips fit into thier proper grooves,(outside the cap in drive shaft) I really don't see where there's a way to screw it up. If however, you didn't put the retaining clips in, that's a problem. There will be some play, in that you will be able to move the spider closer to one cap and then closer to the other cap; that's ok. What you don't want is sideways motion from the spider to the cap (which is probably why you replaced the joints in the first place.