5-Speed

Alright guys. Got something very odd going on. Its been going on for a while but it has got worse since. So this is going to sound like a clutch issue but I dont think it is. Sitting still in neutral with the clutch in, put it in 1st and it clunks. Shifting gears, it sounds like the rear end clunks (when letting the clutch back out). Today a new noise started. When I shift, clutch still in, it clunks as it goes in to the next gear, this is before I start to let the clutch back out. Going through parking lots is just bad. One wrong move and the driveshaft goes crazy. Its like its playing ping pong. Dont really know how to describe it but its very bad. So, to why I dont think its the clutch. I crawled under it and I can rotate the driveshaft a good amount, in neutral with the parking brake on. If it was a clock, it would spin from 12 o'clock to 2. My buddy has an auto xj and I checked his. Put it in neutral and spun the shaft. It had half the amount of play. Barely went to the 1 o'clock spot. A little background info. Put new gears in it about 2500 miles ago. I helped with the install but did about 10% of it. I verified it had the correct backlash when getting installed. It does not have any back and forth play in the pinion. So main question to all of you, when in neutral, how much does your driveshaft rotate?

5-Speed

Well looks like I am on my own for this one. Guess I will start by popping off the diff cover and check the backlash. I would assume if the backlash was really that loose, I would be able to hear the gears whine. We will see...

mrshaft696

are you saying you can rotate the driveshaft while still connected to the rear axle from 12 to 2? just suspecting something in t-case

freegdr

.

5-Speed

The play is in the rear end. Doesnt matter if I pop the driveshaft off since its in neutral. Wont change anything. But yes, if I crawl under the jeep and spin the pinion, it will move almost a 1/4 turn before stopping. So my assumption is that it is either backlash (like the adjusters came loose. 8.25 rear) or something with the axle splines on the locker. Could the locker somehow be loose in the carrier? I would find that hard to be possible since there is a huge pin holding everything in. I have about 2500 miles on the gears (motive gear) and locker (spartan) and about 1500 miles on the driveshaft (adams).

shooptube

I thought we already resolved this issue man. Its the backlash in the gears due to the auto locker you installed. My jeep does the exact same thing.

When you are in a parking lot, you need to do mostly coasting or else you start bouncing off that backlash and the jeep begins to buck.

5-Speed

Yes we have been over this and I was fine with how it was originally. Now its different. Its worse. Does it in neutral with the clutch out. Never used to. Its hard to not make it do it now. Before I could control it, now I cant. Anything under 10 mph and turning is just asking for it

TRCM

Doesn't matter if the clutch is in or not., the 'backlash' is still there.

It's not really backlash per se, but the play between the center pin & the 2 inner halves of the locker, combined with the normal backlash, makes it seem much worse.

My auto trans jeep does it too.

shooptube

So with the transmission in neutral and turning you are saying that the Jeep is bucking? Everything else you have described my Jeep does. The clunk when you push the clutch in, the excessive driveshaft rotational play, and noise.

mrshaft696

I have a 5sp and auto lockers & sometimes I get a bit of a pogo stick kind of effect when I push the clutch in & try to coast around a corner & if you don't do it just right it hops around, which means I usually I don't shift out of gear unless its almost a complete stop. (parking lots suck etc.) I have to handle the gas pedal just right to have the locker engaged or coasting or it bucks like mad.




Never when accelerating & changing gears though, drives normal.

5-Speed

Yes even when in neutral and turning it does it. Never did it before. And now it has another clunk that it never used to have. And this new clunk is when shifting and moving. So say going from 2nd to 3rd with the clutch in, it will make another clunk as soon as I pop it in 3rd. Same from 3rd to 4th. Again, this is with the clutch pushed to the floor the entire time.

Pogo stick effect. Thats a good way to describe it haha.

dans98xj

I noticed this too in my TJ. I had a lock right in the back and it would seen like to gears were going bad. It was just the play in the center pin of the case in the locker. I would pull the cover to make sure nothing came loose or a pin did not brake.

5-Speed

So I guess what I am getting out of this is...

A - Stop complaining and just drive it. Deal with everything its doing. If the rear end fall off, then I have a problem.

Or

B - Get a selectable locker

mrshaft696

Does your locker past the "test" for proper functionality? Hold one wheel spin the other etc?

5-Speed

I am going to assume it does. I can hear it click when I turn and it definitely locks when off roading or just being on the throttle. I will do the spin test this weekend to verify.