Clacking noise when pressing and releasing gas

[Vega]

I recently bought a 2000 Ranger and I'm starting to go down the list of problems that need to be addressed. First up is a "clacking", metal-on-metal type sound every time I push on the gas and also when I release the gas at medium RPMs. It sounds like it's coming from under the middle of the cab or gear box.

Here's a sound clip of it:
http://audiour.com/playlist/jepnfbdt

You can hear it best starting at about 0:19 where I get to mid RPMs in 4th and keep hitting and releasing the gas. Then a little later I do the same in 3rd and then in 5th.

Any ideas?

 

[adsm08]

I can't hear it.

 

[ab_slack]

is it that sound, maybe once or twice a second?

 

[Road Angels]

Sounds like a bad front yoke as was common on 98-2001 rangers, no joke, replaced mine and the tail shaft bushing makes more of a clanking sound

 

[Vega]

is it that sound, maybe once or twice a second?

Yep

Sounds like a bad front yoke as was common on 98-2001 rangers, no joke, replaced mine and the tail shaft bushing makes more of a clanking sound

I think you're right that it's a u-joint problem. The back u-joint seems to have quite a bit of play side to side and a bit front-to-back. Moving it around makes the clanking noise I hear inside the cab when driving. Also, when I hit 65MPH I start to get noise/vibrations, which I've read is also a sign of a bad u-joint.

Here's a video of moving the back u-joint around, although I couldn't quite capture how much it moves side to side.

https://vimeo.com/77647047v


If that's the case the remedy would be replacing the whole u-joint? As a newb is that something I could tackle?

 

[the_novice]

U-joints are fairly straight forward to change. There are plenty of YouTube videos on it. The one from bleepin jeep is decent. Just be absolutely sure that your c-clips are seated properly.