[Ben_Sierra]

My rear has developed a horrible clunk on takeoff and gear shift. When I engage the clutch it takes a split second to do anything then the diff engages with a clunk.

I got underneath and there is quite a bit of rotational play in the rear driveshaft. So, whats going on with my diff and how do I fix it?

[atari4x4]

buy a bunch of banana's eat them & push the skins in the filler hole.

[Llewellyn92]

sounds like you have some epic backlash, but how much freeplay does the driveshaft have 1/8, 1/4 etc of a turn? Also this is not usually a sudden thing, it normally occurs slowly overtime if the adjuster lock isnt doing its thing. So did this just happen or what?

[Ben_Sierra]

There's been a little play for a while but its gone rapdily downhill in the last couple of weeks... Probably about 1/8 of a turn in there now...

[skelaaleks]

Check rotational back lash then up and down + in and out
Sounds like you may have stuffed bearings.

Do you have diff breathers?
have you been through deep water/ mud?

either way the diff centre would need to be removed to fix the problem.

[rogerworkman]

did u check to see if the u bolts are done up tight

[Ben_Sierra]

skelaaleks wrote:

Check rotational back lash then up and down + in and out
Sounds like you may have stuffed bearings.

Do you have diff breathers?
have you been through deep water/ mud?

either way the diff centre would need to be removed to fix the problem.

I do have diff breathers, so I shouldn't have any crap in there...

I know nothing about diffs so this might need to be a job for someone else... Gonna cost me some $$$

[Llewellyn92]

yer thats not perfect but its not way too much either so i dont think that is the cause ( should still be tightend when the diff is apart next). maybe give attari's approach ago . Also drain the oil and see what you can see, even though i dont think you will find any gems in there.

[Ben_Sierra]

Llewellyn92 wrote:

yer thats not perfect but its not way too much either so i dont think that is the cause ( should still be tightend when the diff is apart next). maybe give attari's approach ago . Also drain the oil and see what you can see, even though i dont think you will find any gems in there.

If I can get the plugs out

[skelaaleks]

[Ben_Sierra]

Just double checked...

The U bolts appear to be good and tight, so I don't think thats got anything to do with it...

There is a little play in the rear uni joint as well which probably isn't helping matters...

[skelaaleks]

i would say the clunk is coming from the uni joint rather then diff.
replace it first and see how you go(itll have to get done eitherway:)

[appsie]

x2 on the uni.Sounds like its it for sure and for a $20 part id replace it anyway n try it first

[alien]

my diff did this when it had self-destructed... it was a really loud "snap" kind of clunk on the outside, inside was like a u-bolt clunk sound... so i didnt think it was as bad as it was until i jacked up the rear, had it in 1st gear idling (so both back wheels spinning in the air) and stopped one wheel with my foot - doing this meant the diff "worked" and made its clunk

Because of the axles the sound appears to come from the wheel too, not the diff centre.

the other weekend you did hit that mud hill pretty hard (lots of wheel spin and crossed up) - thats pretty much how i did mine, although mine let go properly (started doing the louder snappy clunk) after some circle work at the end of the day - once again a situation where the diff is working overtime.