My beloved Super 11CD has a few degrees of backlash in the carriage, and it's as good as new. All of the SouthBend lathes I have used also have a little play in the carriage wheel. Come to think of it, the Nardini I demoed and the nice used Clausing I looked at before buying my Super all had a few degrees backlash in the carriage. So - yes - I think it's normal.
When I am threading or doing a precision cut, I wind the carriage out to the right of the start point and then engage the halfnuts - this gives the carriage a chance to take out the backlash while it's advancing to the part. I do this on every precision pass under power-feed.
BTW - congrats on the new lathe! A few thoughts - maybe you already did them, maybe not.
1. Lubricate everything! I've seen a few lathes come out of the factory overfilled with oil, or improperly greased.
2. Shim it with hardwood. Some new lathes are coming with these "isolation pads" - cast iron pucks with a divet on top and rubber on the bottom. I've yet to see a lathe set up on these that didn't wobble. The old tried-and-true method of using hardwood shims works best. I get a few pieces - 6" long by 1/4" thick - and I also buy composite decking shims at Home Depot (they cost about $3 a pack of 12) place the shim under the wood, put the shim and wood under each corner of the lathe, and tap them in independently until your machinist level shows true across the bed. If you have fine adjusting screws between your cabinet and bed, as I do, then only worry about leveling the base of the lathe with the shims, then level the bed with the adjustment screws.
Have fun and be safe! A lathe is an amazingly useful (and deadly) tool.
