Clanking Noise in Gear/ Goes away in Park/Neutral

Guys:

I have a clanking noise that sounds like a clank clank when my 1988 XJ (AW-4) 4.0L is in drive. This noise goes away when you put her in park or neutral and is most loud at idle when the engine is cold. Once it warms up or RPMS increae the clanking goes away but there is still a "rattle" thats mild at speed. I have read other threads after searching about flex plate bolts. Does this sound like the deal here? Also I am not a tranny guy at all.. Whats it going to take to inspect the flex plate bolts? Does the AW-4s inspection cover provide me enough of a view to inspect it?

engine mount.
fan hitting shroud.

my guess.

Could be the flexplate. On my grand cherokee, it makes the same noise due to the cat or a loose heat shield (previous owner couldn't remember).

Kellen

The fan shroud and engine mounts are good... It may be the shroud down there.. it does sound like its comming from around the cat.. the thing is its only doing it in gear.. honeslty i swore it was my MICrap muffler but they refused to replace it (sounds like the baffles may be banging around in it)

Press the 4WD shifter and if it disappears is this:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=68131

I will try messing with hte x-fer case handle.. but I thought that Service buliten was only for ChryCo era XJs not my renix beast

Any other thoughts guys? How hard is it to inspect the flex plate for cracks / loose bolts?

simple stuff first..
crawl under and give the exhaust a good shake, if the cat or muffler is rattling you'll know.
Stand and look at the engine and have someone put it in gear, see if anything is shifting.

FWIW I had a cracked flex plate years ago (not a jeep), as I recall it taped at idle in gear only and went away once moving.