odd sound when taking off from a dead stop.
 

wonder if its dry driveshaft slip splines? only happens when leaving a dead stop under hard acceleration. hard to describe sound, but seems to be coming from behind me, almost sounds like 2 broken pieces of steel snapping past each other. frame is o.k., leaf springs are o.k. , doesnt do it when shifting between gears or if i gently take off from a stop. i dont think theres a grease fitting for the driveshaft where the splines are (where the 2 piece shaft takes up slack for being loaded or unloaded) amy have to take that apart once the weather breaks and see what i find. my 1st ranger never had this issue after 200K miles. this truck is now at 145K but its almost 20 years old. ive read somewhere before about pulling the shaft apart & greasing the splines up. does this sound like a possibility for whats happening? not sure what else it could be.

Have you checked the basic stuff like u-joints already?

yep, u-joints are all good, carrier bearing seems fine, all the spring hangers are withing 3 years of being new and the u-bolts holding the springs to the axle are like there supposed to be. springs and frame are good.

Just thought I'd ask... easy to overlook the simple stuff!