Tim D

Moses, You know that trying to describe a driveline noise is always difficult. I'm running 32X11.5X15 with a 1inch body lift. I will check the u-joints for bind, but it is not that type of sound. Some background on me, I also have a streetrod with a ford 9 inch, so I totally understand what you are saying about driveline angles. My money is still on the outer rear wheel bearings. I will know more when I tear it down. By the way, I had a problem with the 9 inch that drove me crazy for the longest time. In reverse it made the sound of the left side brake shoes making contact with the drum. It would not make the sound in drive. Turns out that bearing race had worn the axle enough to cause just enough movement to change the geometry of its motion in reverse. Now I had never seen a bearing spin the race on the pressed side but that's what it was. A set of $$$$ Moser Axles took care of that problem. I was hopeful that you or one of the members had a similar problem that I am having and would verify it for me. Tim

Moses, Thanks for your response, I hope to pull it apart this next weekend. Still trying to get Taxes done. I had checked to make sure the wheel was tight. Then pulled the brake drum to open it up. I thought that I would be able to just pull the axle, not realizing that the backing plate would need to come off as well. That is when I discovered the zirk fitting and thought that maybe it had the inter seals. A small amount of gear lube came out when I broke it apart, so still not sure if they had inter seals or not. In any event I will mike it before pulling it completely apart and send you the runout measurement . Frankly I was curious if anyone had ever heard a similar sound, from their CJ's rear. The thunking was strange as it did not sound like it was on every revolution. Maybe 2 to 3 seconds apart, weird in my opinion. Thank Again, truly enjoy my old jeep. Tim

Sorry that I did not mention that it has the flanged axles. Tim D

My CJ8 is pretty much stock and had not been abused. I have replaced the 4.2 with a fuel injected AMC 360. I grin every time I drive it. The problem with my Jeep's rear-end seems to be axle bearings. They do not seem to make any type of growling noise, but do make a kind of an occasional thunking sound. When it's rolling at speed it is a thunk-------thunk------thunk. Sometimes it goes away or gets louder when I change direction. I did pump some grease into the zirks on the flange that did seem to help once it made its way around the bearing. Seemed to help for maybe 500 miles or so. I am able to hold the wheel at the 6 and 12 o'clock position and get a little movement. What really seems odd is that I do have a fair amount of run out at the axles.