rebuilt the front driveline cv joint, still have clunking noise?

[mcd_cory]

hello all, i recently bought a 97 explorer AWD at auction for $800.00 in great shape (?). motor sounds great and trany is smooth, but the drivers side cv axle needed to be replaced. got that done and discovered that i still had some clunking coming from the front end. i pulled the front drive line and rebuilt the cv joint on it and put it back together and it didnt change anything. what should i check next? also, can i drive it with the front driveline off with out doing any damage? any ideas would be great, thanks.

 

[transman304]

wont work with front shaft removed. Make sure all motor and trans mounts are good. Did you check/change fluid in front diff? If you changed what did fluid look like?

 

[mcd_cory]

checked fluid, and it looked fine. next im going to cchange the fluid to see if there is any metal frags in it. i saw on another thread that the arm on the drivers side could cause a clunking noise? driveing with the front driveline off gives me no noise.i'll post what i find then, thanks.

 

[Turdle]

Yes you can drive with the front shaft removed. See if this eliminates the noises and post back please.

Beware though, without the front drive shaft in place the truck may move while parked on any incline, so, be sure the park brake works or use a chock on a wheel.

 

[mcd_cory]

thanks Turdle, driving with out the front drive line eliminates the noise. im going to open the front diff. this weekend and see what is going on. if the problem is in the diff. what would you suggest, rebuild or just replace the diff. i figured i would check at jolopy jungle and see if i can find a good diff. thanks again for the reply.

 

[Turdle]

thanks Turdle, driving with out the front drive line eliminates the noise. im going to open the front diff. this weekend and see what is going on. if the problem is in the diff. what would you suggest, rebuild or just replace the diff. i figured i would check at jolopy jungle and see if i can find a good diff. thanks again for the reply.

If the noise goes away without the front drive shaft, I would suspect either the drive shaft or transfer case.

The front diff still turns without the drive shaft, in other words, so I would look elsewhere first.

 

[rb142]

I agree with Turdle. It's unlikely to be in the front diff if it goes away without the shaft in place. Look at the shaft or the transfer case.

Under what conditions does this clunk happen? Maybe it isn't the driveline making the noise.