Hello any help would be great. I have a 2002 FX4 off road. I have a post in the general discussion board titled so it begins. I have listed everything I have done to my truck. Ok here's the prob, when I put it in drive I get a slight thump like something is loose. It's a slight hesitation and then it sort of bangs in gear. The tranny shifts great. So over the weekend I pulled the cover off rear diff. Completely drained and cleaned it out, put new synthetic gear oil to spec and friction modifier. Still same. So I pulled driveshaft off. I already changed u joints. When I took off front of shaft, the flange on the transfer case has a small amount of play, would I be safe to assume that is the culprit???? I don't know if it's supposed to have play in it or not?? Thanks for any help.

 

The front driveshaft should have nothing to do with it, when you just put in drive. In 2wd, there is no power going to the front tires, although you might look into it some more. As for the thump, is it more like a "clunk" because if it is, Im sure that most every ranger does this and it is nothing to worry about, because there is nothing you can do about it. Mine does it.

 

Sorry What I meant to say was I pulled the rear driveshaft off. Where it connects to the rear of the transfer case I had disconnected it. The flange on the rear of the transfer case has play in the rotation. And yes it is a clunking (brain fart couldn't remember the word) I have heard from other ranger owners they have same noise. Mine just seems worse at different times.I guess I'm just lucky I have had 7 different Rangers and never had this, that's why I was worried. Thanks for the quick response.