87 accord 5 speed M/T. Was in 5th gear. Without warning, and without noise or any other noticeable shudder, etc. Vehicle acted like I was in neautral even though I was still in the 5th gear position. All other gears work fine. I can shift in and out of 5th without any grinding, or whining etc., It just doesn't acknowledge the gear.

In reading around I ran across someones answer to another that said there should be no slop in the retaining nuts, and to torque the nuts back to spec. to fix the problem. When I took my end cover off to take a look around in there, I noticed that both my shaft nuts had enough play in them for me to turn them back and forth (about) 1/8 of a turn. They would go no further in either direction beyond that.

Is this a case of needing to get some new nuts and torque them down so things will engage proper again, or is this little bit of slop normal, and I have something else going on?