clunk noise from rear axle/diff?

[gw4xls]

when i put the gear shift in to drive there is a clunking noise in the rear axle i have the 2.4 auto it seems to be worse when going from reverse to forward drive.
many thanks

[TonyN]

Most likely to be the UJ's, but could be play in the rear diff. You can live with quite a lot of slack in the rear end but sometimes the pinion nut can come undone, hard to tell with the shaft in place though, but try pulling it in and out of the diff and t/case.

If hold the flange and shaft in each hand either side of each UJ and twist you should see any play in the joints.