clicking/tapping

i've been hearing a clicking sound that follows the speed of the vehicle under acceleration. speed up and the tapping speeds up; it gets quiet when coasting. seemed a u-joint or double-cardan problem. i removed the front driveshaft, no change. removed rear driveshaft, no change. what could it be?

2000 XJ, 4.0, auto, 242 tc

Simplest first. (1) A rock in your tire tread? (2)Rear emergency brake cable linkage rubding inside drum?

Southwest Chuck said:

Simplest first. (1) A rock in your tire tread? (2)Rear emergency brake cable linkage rubding inside drum?

Click to expand...

1. no, louder than that, almost a knocking. been happening a while, even wheeling last week. wide MT lugs would have cleared itself by now.
2. i did follow the e-brake cable to check, and no.

Disconnecting the front drive shaft would not have eliminated a bad axle u-joint up front unless you have a hub conversion. Could be that.

this morning, i think i've all but eliminated it coming from an axle. the tapping is too fast. i.e., it taps a few times per tire rotation. i'm geared to 4.56, and that sounds about right to me as far as the how many clicks i hear per how far i travel.

it must be in my drivetrain. i'm thinking transfer case. :bawl:

It's the warning Jeep built in to tell you your XJ is going to explode!














Seriously though, I have no idea.
~Scott

how about TWO bad driveshafts? yep, both front and rear double-cardans.

last week, i shipped the rear off to Tom Woods for repair. it's on its way back to me. i've been driving in fwd for a week.

i'm wheeling next weekend and don't want to pay expedited shipping both ways to get my front shaft to Woods and back in time. so i grabbed an oem front shaft at the local u-pull-it. removed my ds, installed junkyard shaft. the test drive after installing a $25 junkyard front shaft was the first time in weeks that it didn't sound like someone was banging on the bottom of the jeep with a stick.