it happens after off and on but usually every ride from between 15-25km/h . i have checked the u joints they have no play and look good. the front cv joints are fine i see no leaks or rips in the boot. it sounds like it would be right at the front u joint. i dont have any idea what it could be. i bought the truck off of a guy who replaced inner and outer ties rods both sides and replace both control arms. im not to sure what this noise is as it doesn't always happen. both diffs have brand new amsoil in them about 4000km ago. it just started happening when the temp came down to about -20C.

also its got 164000 km on the odometer and it has original u joints.

 

u joints or wheel bearings. and looking at them doesnt mean there not bad. lift the truck put it in nutural and check the rear shaft and both fronts by moving by hand if there play you will feel it. other wise. drive it until something brakes.

 

i did do a thorough check on the u joints. lifted the truck up. tried moving it left to right up and down and the shaft back and forth nothing. front shaft has slight movement while turning it but nothing in the joint. im going to lift it up again and check the wheel bearings and hub.

 

I moved this to the 3rd Generation forum, where you can hopefully get some more answers.

 

Go on to my profile and look at my other posts I've done about my clicking noises before. Did you check the cv that meets at the transfer case? not the cv shafts from the diff to the wheel hubs, but rather the main driveshaft from transfer case to the cv. One side has a ujoint and the other has a cv. That cv was making my clicking noise, rather it was more of a rattling noise. My drive shaft didn't have any play when the cv went bad.

 

are you talking about the rear main drive shaft that goes to the transfer case not the rear dif right? its happening all the time not just when it's in 4 wheel drive. it also makes a nice clunk when put in reverse. i dont think its the front shaft with the cv as the rear does not have one. here is a pic of my front u joint on my rear driveshaft. there is grease leaking it looks like out of one of the bearings. https://i.imgur.com/IbCHZda.jpg

 

Not the driveshaft that goes to the rear diff. The front driveshaft has a ujoint on the diff side and has a cv joint on the transfer case side. That made mine click a lot. First cv went bad but it was only making a clunking in 4 wheel drive. I got a replacement one and that one eventually had the inside shattered AKd clicked in 2wd but clunked in 4wd. Mine looked fine from the outside and had no play in the shaft, but I wasnt 100% sure till I opened it up.

 

That grease is coming out of a seal. That driveshaft is a two piece driveshaft right there. I think they made it that way because for me I couldn't remove the entire shaft out of The truck without taking it apart because of clearnace with the exhaust. The two parts of The driveshaft interlock with splines. There is usually grease on the splines so they don't rust if you want to remove The driveshaft. WHen I had mine apart, I collapsed the shaft all the way and The grease made it not come apart. Why? because it created a vacuum affect inside the driveshaft. I had to attach one end to a truck and The other end to another truck to pull em apart. Just kind of a warning. I used white lithum in a can to spray it so it moved better than actual wheelbearing grease. Once on the vehicle, the driveshaft does not expand or collapse.

 

When the truck accelerates or decelerates, the rear suspension compresses or expands due to the truck body lurching backward (under acceleration) or forward (under deceleration). Since the driveshaft is connected to the rear axle, it must be allowed to pivot up or down with the compression or expansion of the rear suspension. However, since the rear differential can only move straight up or down, and does not "follow" the semi-circular path around the driveshaft when it pivots, the driveshaft must also be allowed to lengthen or contract to account for this changing of radius created as the differential rises or falls.

So how is this accomplished? Through the use of a slip joint in the driveshaft: As the rear suspension compresses/expands, the two pieces of driveshaft slide in/out of each other. Is this unique to Dakotas? Definitely not.

 

ok I guess ill pull it out. I didnt think it would cause a clicking as it should just sit there freely and ocationally spin at higher speeds but essentially just floating there untill it is engaged. the noise happened after I gunnee it coming on the highway.