Tranny 'clunk' when shifting into reverse

[92XLExploder]

Im new to this but i got a 1997 explorer with 200,000+ miles on it form my boss for free. its 4wd (control trac 4wd) and 4.0 ohv. when i shift it into reverse it will clunk sometimes and other times it wont clunk till after i start rolling backwards. just changed the atf and filter and the clunk is still there but not as bad. what could cause it to clunk in reverse. it dosent do it in any foward gears.

 

[koda2000]

could be worn u-joints, bad transmission and/or motor mounts

 

[92XLExploder]

Thanks for the reply. The clunking is slowly going away since i changed the tranny fluid. What gets me is i got it from my boss and he has owned is since it had a little less then 5000 miles on it and they just gave it to me cause they thought it was the tranny going out. all they needed to do is service the tranny. Im still going to check out the motor mounts and the U-joints.

 

[n2epv]

There's clunk and then there's CLUNK! I too have a '97 with 200,000+ miles on it. These 2nd gens were the best of the Explorer line and the 6 and 8 cylinder ohv's will go almost forever. Mine has been great - brakes, shocks and ball joints (plus fluid flushes) has been it for maintenance.

That being said, at 200K miles, there's free-play in almost everything in the drive train. My truck will make quite a nasty clunk if it's set overnight and the first movement is reverse. I think it's agrivated by the idle speed being higher on a just-started engine. Plus I read somewhere that the 4R70 transmission engages with a much higher control pressure in reverse compared to 1st.

To avoid this, I always park so the first movement of the truck will be in 'D'. It never makes any noise when shifting from 'P' to 'D' on a cold engine, even in the dead of winter.