Hi, folks

I am glad to find this forum. I am looking at a cherokee classic. It is fairly cheap but have a few problems.

(1) Rear end makes clunk noise during driving. Rear differ is gone? How much it will cost me?
(2) All gauges on the dash board sometimes quite working and the air bag light is turned on. Is this something common to Jeep? Any clues about that, dash cluster is gone or just a loose connection or bad fuse (by the way, there is no owner manual on the car, can someone provide me the chart of fuses.

Thanks.

 

1)...might not be the rear end necessarily...could be a u-joint. This clunking, is it a constant clunking like with a rotational part, or is a clunk here and there?

2) Very common in Cherokee's and Wranglers. The solution is to pull the dash apart, pull the instrument cluster out and clean the connections on the back of it.

 

Thanks for the input. It is a constant clunking, does this mean rear diff or U-joint?


[QUOTE=UNCC_99XJ;40101]1)...might not be the rear end necessarily...could be a u-joint. This clunking, is it a constant clunking like with a rotational part, or is a clunk here and there?

 

One way to check the u-joint is to grab the rear driveline and try to turn it, move it back and forth and see if there is any play.

 

If it were me and it was just a stock rear axle I would just go pick up another one and swap it in. IMO it would be much easer and less time consuming.

 

Does it clunk when you stop or while on the move?

 

Ya, thinking about it there may be a simple answer. Describe your symptoms a bit more.

 

Also is it lifted at all?

 

It clunk only on the move, there is no noise on the stop.
Thanks for your inputs.

 

Not, it is totally stock, no lift or any other mods.

 

That could be a u-joint in the rear driveshaft. You could start diagnosing it by removing and checking the joints for play. Or if you already know the rear end is bad, then i would just do what kyle said, get a replacement 8.25 from the junkyard, cheaper route.

 

I had a similar problem, well it sounds like anyway. All it was for me was the rear u joint connected the diff. to the rear drive shaft. If you check the rear drive shaft u joint, and decide to pull it off, check the yoke, the thing that holds the ujoint to the rear diff. and make sure the teeth(there are two of them, one on each side where the ujoint ends meet up) arent broken off. if one is broken off, well first it isnt good or safe, second it will cause the ujoint to go to crap faster. hope i was clear. good luck

 

Thanks for the valuable information.
To tell you the truth, although I do have some mechanics skill and DIY most maintenance and repair, I have zero experience with 4 X 4. This cherokee is my first SUV (yes, I bought it at $1,200). I wonder if somebody can offer me a write-up on how to replace the U-joint?
Thanks.

 

Try this site. He uses a c-clamp but you can use a vice if you have one and that makes it easier IMHO.


http://www.extremehowto.com/xh/artic...ticle_id=60402

 

it sounds like a u joint....but....it could be a motor mount believe it or not...mine had that...it had a clunk noise when i used to step on it from stop...i was like..mm weird....and it was the engine jumping around when torque was been put