So I have had a clunking noise for a good while and fixed pretty much everything I thought could cause it... new U joints, checked lateral runnout, tightened up all bolts/k memeber etc etc... It clunks when braking at high speeds and when rolling towards a slow stop.

So I was underneath the car this weekend and shook the driveshaft back and forth, rotating in a circular motion. I have play in the splines where the front yoke goes on the transmission tail shaft. Pulled the shaft to make sure.. again.. that it was not a u joint. Joint was tight. I cleaned the yoke and tailshaft up and put some right stuff 1 min set rtv in the splines on the yoke (this is what I use on rear end splines/yoke to seal). This seemed to help a good bit, but not fix it.

Any other ideas? Not sure if the yoke or tailshaft is worn or both. Can't use anything too adhesive as the d/s needs to be removed, and can't use anything that could seep out into the tranny.

 

The yoke has to slide in and out on the trans output shaft when your rearend moves up and down. (sounds reeeeally dirty) silicon isnt a good idea to use in there at all.
There are parts in the trans that will get worn and kinda klunk.
Yoke can be replaced if worn.

There is also play (backlash) between the rearend ring and pinion gears that makes noise..

 

There's always rotational play.

Shine light into the yoke and inspect the splines for wear.
Pull the tailhousing off and inspect the output shaft splines for wear.

 

I can hear the solenoids clunk a bit in the trans and a little b/l in the rear end. This is much louder. The rotational play shouldn't be enough to make a loud noise heard over the radio.

I didn't remove the tail housing, but I did shine a light in there and in the yoke. Nothing abnormal visually, but lot of play back and forth with the yoke slid on.

Yokes seem pretty cheap though, might be worth it to give a new yoke a shot.

 

stock DS and stock axle? stock trailing arms? Changed the ride height? If you have longer arms, or a shorter driveshaft, this can make a good yoke start clunking. In that case, gotta get a longer yoke, or shorten the DS, or move the axle forward.