Drivetrain KLUNK niose Dodge Dakota

I would take it to a different dealer. If you have that much backlash in the rear, it is about to fail.

Does it sound like the front part of the drive train? I had a car (Saab 9-3) once with a broken motor mount. When accelerating, a loud, vibrating THUMP would come from the front of the drive train ...

Craig C.

Sounds like it's coming from the rear.

That's what I was thinking. What happens when a rear end "fails"? Doesn't a rearend make a whining or grinding sounds when it's near failure?

My 01 r/t with the automatic does the same thing when I let off the gas and start decelerating with out the brake. It has done it since the 1st day I drove it off the lot. It sounds like a bad u-joint but the u-joins are fine and my rear has been checked 5 times because of it.. We finally gave up trying to figure out exactly what it is. I took it to 3 different dealers. Half the time they could never replicate the problem. the 3rd time they took apart the diff and every thing seemed to look just fine, but the noise continued every once in a while, Maybe, once a day. Lately I have started to think, it might just be the tail gate moving...

If you find out, let us know..

-Aaron

Ok, simple tests for U joint problems. Put the transmission in 1st with parking brake on. Let out clutch, apply gas normally .. hear klunk? Put transmission in Reverse, repeat clutch and gas .. hear klunk again? Probably a U joint. I have 2000, and replaced U joints, two were very bad, the others were on last legs. Do you notice any low frequency vibrations while driving at highway speeds? Notice any noises when moving slowly, like crickets chirping? U joints, most likely.

Back lash in the differential gears is measured in thousands of an inch. Thousands. Reach up thyere and grab the drive shaft. Turn it back and forth, if you can see/feel it moving back and forth, the backlash is far more than it should be. Checking the left carrier bearing would be the first step.

Is it a 4X4?

Jeff

aaron

dont know how related this would be but chevrolet had problems with a drive line klunk on decel a while back. they suggested it being because of drive line wind up due to the slip yoke not slipping on the trans output shaft. they suggested using a special lubricant and lubricating the drive shaft slip yoke. dont know what kind of lube it was other than it was "special"

Thanks. I will try your test.

Dave

Thanks for ther reply. I am going to get a 2nd (and probably a 3rd) opinion. I'll let you know what they say.

As a matter of fact, I just did this today. The drive shaft DOES move back abd forth. I didn't measure it accurately with a ruler, but "eyeballing it" I would say is moves about 1/8". I also jacked up the rear end so both tires were off the ground and tranny in first gear. I can move the tire, on the RH side, back and forth 1/2". (I put a mark on the side of the tire near the tread and had my son hold a yardstick while I moved the tire back and forth). On the LH side I could barely move the tire back and forth.

Yes, it is a 4x4. The klunk occurs while in 2WD.

Thanks for all you responses. I did get a second opinion and was told rearend was okay but a Ujoint was bad and there was a lot of play up front

- possibly the tranny or transfer case. So I took it back to the original dealer and they replaced a Ujoint on the rear driveshaft and also replaced the transfer case. There's still a very slight klunk on occasion but it's a whole lot better than it was. All the work was covered under warranty included a BRAND NEW transfer case.

bwd

There will always be some noise.