Click clack

[Mark_Donohue]

My ‘04 sat for 30 days while we were on a road trip. When I came home, it’s developed a click noise when I hit 20mph in 2H. It is not the engine or tranny (I can shut the Jeep off and it continues while the wheels roll to a stop). When I put it into 4H or 4L, it is significantly louder.

Today I change bed the diff fluid which was worse than I anticipated. That seems to have eliminated the noise in 2H, but not at all in 4wd.

Sound is coming from the front axle area. I’m open to ideas on how to diagnose what the problem is since I can only get it to make noise while driving.

I appreciate any help!

 

[MountaineerTom]

The first thing I would do is inspect the driveshaft u-joints and axle shaft u-joints. If that’s good then pull the diff cover and look for any signs of something wrong. Broken/chipped her teeth, signs of something rubbing, debris in the bottom of the diff.

 

[Mark_Donohue]

The first thing I would do is inspect the driveshaft u-joints and axle shaft u-joints. If that’s good then pull the diff cover and look for any signs of something wrong. Broken/chipped her teeth, signs of something rubbing, debris in the bottom of the diff.

Thank you. I changed the diff fluid today with a pump and keep checking for metal, didn’t see any. I realize though that it may still be sitting in the bottom of the case.

 

[macleanflood]

Could also pull the front driveshaft to narrow down possibilities.

-Mac

 

[Bobohunter1776]

Thank you. I changed the diff fluid today with a pump and keep checking for metal, didn’t see any. I realize though that it may still be sitting in the bottom of the case.

Yeah that's my problem with using a pump to change diff fluid. It's easier but there's no way to inspect the internals.