93 cherokee sport w/ auto trans... hard brake, let off brake petal, clunk sound along with the feeling of something dropping in the rear end. U-joints seem to have no play in them... could they still be bad? rear drive shaft slipping? tranny mount?

 

My first thought is that you may have an xj in there somewhere. My second thought is that you have a loose u-bolt.

 

could be loose u-bolts,or bad tranny mount,bad motor mounts,u-joints

 

When you say hard brake it makes me think you might have worn or loose brake shoes or even something broken in there.

 

I'm just trying to wrap my head around why the clunk happens when I let off the brake? Like what are the brakes holding up? The brakes were recently done, new shoes, hardware kits, turned drums. If it was a problem with the brakes, why would I feel the clunk like something in the drive line is loose. Trying to put everything together. So when I'm holding the brakes they're keeping the drive shaft from turning right? Then when I release it begins to turn again..hmmmm.....don't wanna think too hard I might hurt myself!


I found another thread talking about the slip yoke slipping in and out of the transmission but I don't really know what a slip yoke is?? Makes me think of eggs.
Guess it's time to learn something new.

 

Ok I've educated myself on the slip yoke a little bit. So could it be it needs to be greased? When I brake the shaft is pushing in towards the t-case, and when I release it slips back out, but with out the grease it doesn't happen smoothly??? But in order for the shaft to push in, the whole rear end would have to move forward a little bit upon braking??? Is that right??? I'm just trying to learn here.. I've never owned a vehicle with clunking underneath before.... still trying to wrap my head around the whole bearing and spline concept as well.

Also, how would I grease the rear drive shaft?? Is there a grease fitting? Do I need to remove the rear drive shaft? Open up the back of the t-case where the yoke goes in? what are the steps here???

 

mabey not releasing? Or it could be all of the above. Rear has me thinking U-joints . ? as for greasing the drive shaft, just get under it wit a grease gun and go to town! You'll find plenty of Zirks to lube.

 

I struggled with assorted clunks and bangclanks for two weeks. What cured most of them was torquing the front end components to specifications. This means the LCAs, UCAs, TREs, etc. Torque everything to SPEC. Spec on LCAs is like 80 pounds, TREs are 50, I think. Look 'em up.

 

alright... pulled out the rear drive shaft which didn't go as smoothly as I hoped... one bolt didn't wanna come out and I ended up stripping it's head, so I had to pry open the bracket that holds the u-joint in place in order to drop the drive shaft, then I think I may have cross threaded one of the bolts putting it back in, plus the bolt that goes into the bent bracket was b*&^# to put back in. But any how I greased the splines inside the shaft, drove it around the block a couple times and the clunk associated with braking appears to be gone. Guess I'll have to drive some more to know for sure but maybe this thread can help some one in the future.....

p.s. still have a clunk in the tranny area when I put in drive, guessing that's the tranny mount. I WILL ELIMINATE THESE CLUNKS ONE BY ONE!!!!!

 

well it's been more than several days now and the clunk still appears to be gone... Greasing up the splines and slip yoke in the rear drive shaft must of done the trick... Only cost 4$ and a little bit of a headache.

 

Also I heard tightening your tranny mount can be a solution to what I called 'take-off clunk' lol

 

I'll have to try that out

 

how is it going with the clunks??
I live in Bogota Colombia and own a 1998 XJ 4.0 liter auto built in Venezuela it has dana 44 front and rear with the front one being a high pinion type. I also have the clunk when I put it in drive or reverse. any help would be great. I have checked all the front drive train, the tranny mounts, u bolts, and u joints are new.
big Gracias for any help