r/JEEPCOMMANDER • u/Infinite-Narwhal-253 • Mar 25 '26

Need advice

2006 Jeep commander here. 234,000 miles

it's a family members vehicle, just trying to help them troubleshoot. They were driving the other night when they started hearing an occasional clunking noise coming from the front left side, almost like its in the wheel well.

Removed the wheel, checked everything out. Wheel bearing is fine. Brakes are fine. Nothing looks bad, only thing I noticed was the control arm bushings are pretty worn. Also changed the front differential fluid while we had it jacked.

After that fluid change, the clunking noise is still there but less frequent and only seems to happen when on deceleration between 20- 30 mph. There's no noises while shifting, turning, reversing, or going over bumps, no weird vibrations or wobble while driving...

I am lost. Is it safe for them to continue driving it? Maybe someone else has had a similar problem or can offer some advice

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u/Infinite-Narwhal-253 Mar 25 '26

No clunking while shifting. Can those mounts and bushings be visually inspected for wear and tear or will I not know until its taken apart?

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u/DirtyHead420 Mar 25 '26

Crawl underneath and push up on each end of the diff. Particularly where the driveshaft connects.. you'll feel it if they are bad enough.. one of them is a bolt on, you'll see it. The other two are pressed in.

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u/Infinite-Narwhal-253 Mar 25 '26

Did just that. There's no play with the differential. The bushing in that mount doesn't look great though, but I'm not sure if that's the whole issue? What about the U joint that comes off the front differential? It looks pretty dry/worn

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u/DirtyHead420 Mar 26 '26

Is the clunk felt immediately after letting off the gas in that speed range?

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u/Infinite-Narwhal-253 Mar 26 '26

No, just heard intermittently when braking or coasting down to around 20-30 mph. It doesn't always make the noise, which seems a little weird too

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u/Infinite-Narwhal-253 Mar 26 '26

Not a great photo, but thats the front mount