Seeing the diff mounts should be easy if you get the car high enough. If the
rubber is loose or the mount is broken, it should be pretty danged obvious -
get a small pry bar or a long screw driver and try moving it up and down.
Clicks and clacks can be caused by lots of things. You shouldn't have *ANY*
play in the U joints, not even 1/16". But there may be play in the splines on
the half shafts, and there may be play because internal diff parts are worn.
One of the common culprits in that regard is the spherical thrust washers that
are used to adjust the pinion gears. These wear over time, and contribute to
diff play - and because of the way they wear, once they get loose, they
encourage more wear. Unfortunately, no one seems to stock a large assortment of
them any more, and it means tearing the diff completely apart to fix it.
I drive around with a diff that clicks when I engage first gear from rest, and
clicks again when I release the clutch to begin motion. It doesn't whine at
speed, and there's no play in the tranny or U joints or halfshafts. I'm going
to live with it until I find a decent posi for my spare and rebuild it.
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