I'm not sure if this is classified by the "infamous clunk" because it really isn't a clunk, it's a very distinct TINK noise, like dropping a hollow pop can from 100 feet and letting it hit the ground, it's exactly like a TINK.

It's a 700R4 with 95000 miles on it. It used to happen once and awhile when shifting into reverse and very very rarely into drive. But lately it'll do it quite often when shifting from park to reverse, it happened the last 5 times that I put it into reverse.

1. Does this spell out trans mount?
2. U-joints?
3. Rear end?

I've read countless posts about clunking noises, but i'm not too sure if it's the same thing...

 

Get under the car and check out those three things, as it could be any one of them or all three.

 

Well i sure hope for your sake its the u joints instead of the rear end!

 

Just trying to get a basis, time is an issue, and so is clearance, I can barely fit underneight my car when it's sitting on the ground, so it's really hard to check the joints and mount. The only jack that i own is the one in the hatch for the spare tire. Just trying to get some basis for checking, or see if maybe someone had a problem with a rear end when this happened.

Do you know of any ways to check these out easily?

 

Yeah...

Get up under the car and look.

Try parking the car over a gutter by finding a tall curb next to a driveway, and driving the one side of the car up on the curb.

ALthough with a U-joint, it's hard to tell by looking, or anything else you can do by hand; they can be falling-apart dead and still look OK from the outside. Best way to check em is by replacement. If you haven't replaced them lately, they need it anyway; so don't bother "troubleshooting", just shotgun it.