Today I began hearing a clicking/slapping/knocking sound from the rear of the jeep. Is my rear end going out?? What should I do?

 

When under acceleration, decelerating, or coasting?

 

no noise or anything under acceleration but is knocking/slapping load when coasting or decelerating

 

First thing to check is the u-joints. if the rear end itself was going bad there would be noise when accelerating and decelerating. It would be more of a growling that would quiet down some when coasting.

Also, how many miles on it and has the differential fluid ever been changed?

 

jeep has about 95,ooo on it and im guessing the fluid has never been changed...i checked for play in the drive shaft while it was in park and there was none..does it need to be in neutral??

 

If the vehicle is on even a small incline, the weight of it will keep the driveshaft tight. Block the front wheels, raise the rear off the ground, support it on jack stands (safety first), and then check it in park.

 

Alright, thanks. I'll have to do that tomorrow sometime. I need to drive to school tomorrow and dont want to tell my dad about it yet lol. Would it be ok to drive on?

 

That's a question no one can answer. It could keep going for months without an issue, or it could snap pulling out of the driveway.

 

I jacked it up today and found no play in the u joints but there seemed to be quite a bit of play with the pinion...and both wheels have slight inward/outward movement??

 

Pull the cover and check, A small amount of movement is normal, but extreme movement is not.

 

I have the cover off now and nothing looks wrong. Im stumped..the knocking stopped yesterday...

 

I just started experiencing this today in my 94 grad Cherokee. No noise or knocking under acceleration but at coasting and deceleration there is a knock and noise. Loud. I was thinking axle? Hoping its not the differential. Thoughts?? Price?