I have a 93 Eddie Bauer with the 351 and what I'm guessing is the E4OD tranny.
When I first got it about a month ago, it clunked a little when you accelerated from a dead stop, or put it in gear.
A few weeks ago, I put new u-joints in the rear drive line, and that fixed the problem of it clunking whenever I took off from a standstill.

Now, it still clunks, and I'm having a bear of a time finding out what it is.

Here's what it does.
It's hard as hell to put it from park to any gear; it acts like it sticks. Once you pull it from park and into reverse (like I'm backing out of the garage), it waits a second, clunks and then lunges in reverse like it just can't wait to go somewhere. After I pull out from the garage, I'll stop, and put it into drive. It hesitates for a second, clunks and then lurches forward, ready to go.

My problems are that it's hard to pull from park to any other gear (goes fine back into park), and I have to wait a second or two for the clunking to stop before I feel safe taking off. Could this be a dirty tranny filter and fluid just needing to be changed, or does this sound like more expensive things to come?

Thanks to all in advance!

 

Do you have plenty of fluid in the transmission? Sounds like it could be low, builds up pressure then shifts, maybe the reason for the pause. This happened to me in my Bronco. Filled it up and shifts great (c-6).

 

The dead stop clunk issue could be the rear slip joint.
There was a thread on here a while back that addressed a lubrication concern of the rear slipjoint in the driveshaft.
mine clunks too from a dead stop but I haven't gotten to it yet.

And after that explorer caved in my right door and q-panel yesterday it became something of a minor issue for now.
BTW the explorer's bumper was pused into the tire and had to be towed. I drove away.

 

I have heard before that the slip joint will cause clunks, but, I greased it when I replaced the ujoints.