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Loud clacking sound from front of tranny in park

Jackhill442

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Atlanta
When I drive the 96 cherokee and then come home and put in park, it makes a loud clattering sound right in the front of the tranny where it meets the engine. Not to be confused with typical 4.0 valve clacking. Possible loose torque conv. bolts? Easy to tighten or require professional? Any help much appreciated.
 
Torque converter bolts or cracked flex plate most likely. You can remove the dust cover easy enough to check the bolts and the flex plate. Rotate the engine around either by hand(vibration damper bolt) or you can get one of those fancy starter bumpers. Check all the bolts and look very carefully for cracks in the flywheel (flexplate). If it's a cracked flex plate you'll have to drop the tranny. Not a fun job, but doable. I had to do mine and I'm just learning. Took a day. Would take a few hours now that I know what I"m doing. Hope this helps.

Kevin
 
Thanks a lot Kevin I will check those two things. I have never dealt with transmissions, but I am a pretty good mechanic. You think I could change the flywheel by myself in a few hours?
 
Might be worth a minute, to park it on a small hill, put it in park and see if it rolls (with the parking brake off). Haven´t seen it in the AW4, but in various TH (Chev) trannies the pin that actually locks the whole works down, sometimes gets a burr on the end and won´t engauge completely, sounds a lot like a flex plate bolt backing out and hiting something, kind of a ratcheting sound..
 
Jackhill442 said:
Thanks a lot Kevin I will check those two things. I have never dealt with transmissions, but I am a pretty good mechanic. You think I could change the flywheel by myself in a few hours?

You could change it yourself in a few hours if you have a good transmission jack. I wouldn't even bother to try it by myself if I didn't have a good jack. I used a floor jack, wood, and knowledgable friends and it took quite a while still. If you've never done it, plan on a day to do it. Just my opinion.

Kevin
 
Sounds like a bolt that completely fell out of the torque converter to me. Had it happen once in a 95 GMC. Only made noise under braking. Any other time the torque converter kicked it out of the way and it was quiet. Try pointing the rig uphill and idling it to see if the noise changes (assuming the pan would let a loose part float to the rear - have not spent that much time uner my XK yet).
 
Hey i have this same problem with my jeep right now, its started last year with a lound clacking, i took the front cover off and 3 of the 4 bolts that hold the flex plate to the torque converter were turned almost all the way out, so i tightened them down, took care of the noise, well not its started again so i thought, same problem, opened her up adn found out NOPE, its a cracked flex plate, a chore to change from what i hear. i did some checking, a new flex plate from a dealership is roughly 93$ and its gonna be an all day project, so if u can do it yourself ur gonna save some money. my advice, check the bolts first see if they are loose, if they are, turn one out at a time, put some thread locker on them and put them back in. check for cracks in the flex plate, now matter how minor they look, ur gonna have to change it cus it will only get worse over time. hope i can help u out there, oh for reference, u will need a 12mm and 18mm wrench to get the dust plate of the front of the tranny.
 
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