Hard Shift and Drivetrain clunk

Just recently i have had this clunk occuring the morning when i shift from Drive to Reverse or vise a versa. Usually when i shift the gear the car shakes a bit in that direction which is normal. But when i do it now the car moves in that direction a lot more and makes a jerking noise. I am not sure if this is related but a few weaks ago my rear brakes where making metallic/clunking noises for a short time. I think it may be the rear brakes need to be changed, but i am not sure if its related.

Pete

Universal joint in the driveshaft is going bad...more than likely.

after checking U joints pull the rear drive shaft and grease up your slip yoke.

My father's '63 Buick Le Sabre does the same thing, and it's the universal joint.

~Jeremy

Do u guys think this may have anything to do with the rear brakes failing ?

pete

My cousin has a clunk. Mine is not as bad. He checked his U-joint and said it looked great. Another relative took a ride in mine, without saying anything about my Jeeps problems, he was picking out this clunk as being a U-joint going bad.

jeepsrock said:

Do u guys think this may have anything to do with the rear brakes failing ?

Click to expand...

The only thing I can think of that would clunk in the brakes would be if one of the drum shoes was flopping around, which I think is pretty unlikely - have you had the drum off? Jeeps are notorious for bad rear brakes in general, and whilst they're supposed to be self adjusting, they're still pretty cr@p, IMO.

On a similar note, I have the same noises, & I do suspect the U-joints, but . . .

is there any chance that deteriorating U-joints in the driveshaft could cause a leak from the_output shaft_of my auto tranny (AW4) . . . I really hate seeing that red juice coming out the end of my tranny -- grrr!

1996 Country, 4.0L, AW4, exhaust leak (somewhere around the header), leaky valve cover, leaky oil filter adapter/elbow

First the leak won't be from the tranny unless it's a 2wd. It will be the transfer case, but effectively the same problem. If the ujoint is hosed and causing drive shaft vibrations, it can wear the babbit bearing in the output cone of the tcase or tranny allowing the slip yoke to effectively rattle around. The seal has a hard time sealing on a surface that is moving side to side as well as spinning.

I would do the simple things first, drop the driveshaft and fix the ujoints and while you have the shaft out, just pry out the output shaft seal and replace it. Don't forget to use sealant between the seal and the housing. They are notorious for leaking.

Oops! Thanks old_man! Yeah, it's a 2WD, that's why I started writing a stand-in for a signature (since I don't have a signature prepared) I just forgot the 2WD part (the most important part). Figures.

Since it is only a tiny dribble, I'll operate, as you say, on the assumption that just fixing the u-joints & seal will fix the leak. I sure hope the "babbit bearing" isn't itself damaged. When I bought the thing, it had 95k on the odometer & the torque converter went bad -- somehow both ends of the tranny were abused by the previous owner. Makes me worry. Good thing these Jeeps are tough.

'96 Country 2WD, 4.0, AW4, 109k miles, 3.55 gears, 29" tires, cold airbox, 62mm TB, some other stuff

Well my jeep cherokee is currently a 2wd cherokee but is in the conversion process and has a front d30 axle. So i will try to grease the joints and look and the u joints when i have time and let you guys know ?

pete