Any help from any “drive train gurus” would be greatly appreciated!
I’ve tried to do my homework and sift through what I think I know but
my 94 Exploder 4wd 5spd (no mods) with 107K is killing me!

Symptoms
“One” good sounding clunk when startup in 1st and 2nd (manual)
No coasting noises IN gear (accelerating or decelerating)
No coasting noises OUT of gear in neutral and with clutch disengaged
??
I replaced the radius arms bushing…its better….. but still there so I checked again the obvious in the front end.
It’s got to be in the drive train from the transmission back but I can’t isolate it and need some help with what I’m hearing.

More stuff
New clutch, pressure plate, pilot bearing, slave, refaced flywheel - the whole 10 yards -went in only 14k miles ago ….AND when I had new engine put in 3K ago a new clutch and pressures plate and refaced the flywheel went in again. There were minor hot spots and a surface crack or two .its was apart! (the “just put in new engine” is killer)

I’ll try to be as helpful as I can. to any experts who want to give it a try:

I jacked up the rear (both tires off the ground)
Rear wheels bearings - Shook LR & RR tires vertically - LR tight ,RR has some play
U-joints – seem fine - They have been replaced and are tight (and greased)
Drive train bolts appear tight
Transmission bracket and other bracket bolts look tied down too
Drive shaft Spline – well greased

Wheel spinning:
Did this forward and backward, in & out of gear. (I did hold the drive shaft from spinning too:
No rotary noise from outside wheel bearings.
The rear did have some rotary sound…but I thought that could be normal.

I did hear some clicking at the differential u joint - the drive shaft was not turning. Then every so often, I get a rotary noise straight thought drive shaft what sounds like through the transfer case and at the front of the transmission.

Any suggestions? What’s going on or what else to check.

Thanks for any help

 

I'd be suspicious of the rear axle bearing(s) or the main bearing in the tranny.

 

At first, I when "looked" at the drive shaft bolts at the rear, I thought they were on tight cause it didn't fell like the shaft was shaking. Wrong!
When I put a wrench to em ( and then everything else in sight) .... l found it .... Point: look "thoroughly" for the simple stuff
Thanks