98 Ranger 4x4 clunks when starting from stop

Anyone else ever heard of this problem? My drive shaft has been replaced 3 times now, and after a few months it develops a clunk again. I'm wondering if others have had this problem and if there is a permenant fix? Thanks....Dan

I have a 1995 4X4, and I understand it is fairly common. My mechanic just removed the universal, and applied a very heavy grease to the splined shaft at the transmission end, where it is designed to slip forward or back, and this lessened the problem greatly.

i would agree with a U joint issue, and make SURE it is always kept lubed.

what you may have is spring wrap. That drove me nuts. Yeah grease the drive shaft . works only for a while. Bought james duff traction bars cured the problem..l

I have to ask how much play up an down on this part of the shaft you get,, There shouldnt be any, they use to coat these splines with a teflon base coating that was fairly thick, if that has worn off, an or the splines are worn , then you got problems , Most Driveline shops should be able to reapply the coating if thats all it is , As for the grease as you see its only a temp. fix its filling in the gaps. I would get this checked out , also it's possible that the shaft might be a tad bent , an thats causing it pop when it finally slides past that spot .An also is this the rear drive shaft or the front ?????? , As this problem is also very common on the front shaft as there a smaller DIA. An usually its from folks running around with it locked in 4 wheel high

My 95 did that. Actually, I think they all do. My mechanic told me it as normal.