Wow, so I have just spent the better part of the day trying to find the rubber bushings for the front axle mounts of my 96 Aerostar. I have replaced everything on the front end; Shocks, Ball Joints, CV's, Inner and Outer Tie Rods, Brakes, Rotors and Wheel bearings, and still had this clunk every time I would accelerate or hit the brakes. All of those needed replaced, but I notice the whole differential member moves back and forth. Bolts are tight. It looks like there is black powder that comes out of the bushing bracket on the passenger end of the axle tube, and there is allot of movement so I think that is the source of the noise.

Does anyone know where I can find these mounting bushings?

Thanks

 

I had a similar issue a few years back. During hard accelerations I heard this rata-ta-ta-ta kinda noise from below.
It turned out that the upper axle bracket broke and the axle was able to tip backward far enough for the U-joint to hit the cross member right under it.
I tried to buy a new bracket but I was told that part had been discontinued for several years. I have tried to pull one from the junk yard but turned out next to impossible without dropping the axle. That was more than I was prepared to do rolling around in the mud at the J yard.
I gave up and that was one of the very few occasions when my Aero was taken to a "hospital" and was "treated" by professional mechanics.
They fixed it up in no time and it is good as new ever since.

I hope you will have better luck.

 

Can you share with us what the "hospital" did to fix it up?

A few years ago, I found this broken bracket on mine:

https://plus.google.com/photos/11555...67774490549511

I cleaned it up and welded it together, and it's been holding for over 7 years:

https://plus.google.com/photos/11555...67774490549511

For those isolation bushings, I had one tear the rubber part out of its steel shell as I was trying to remove the nut. I cleaned that up and glued it back in with a heavy duty adhesive called E600, from OSH. It's been there a couple of years, and also doing OK so far (sorry, no pictures). It yours isn't so badly worn that it has major gaps between the rubber and the shell, you may be able to do the same.

I think one cause of these damages is from the transfer case locking up when it's not supposed to. The drivetrain bind will really stress out these bushings. That's why I've removed my E4WD control module, and will only install it when I really need it again.

 

They did not weld it because if the weld breaks (they saw a slight change for that) then they would have had to do another repair for free. Instead they got another bracket from somewhere. I never bothered to look at that bracket ever since. My Aero doesn't give me too much grief other than the regular maintenance stuff so I did not spend a whole lot of time under it lately. (knock, knock, knock)