My clunk that was fixed with either the brake pad change or diff fluid could be affected by how quickly I took off from a stop. A real slow acceleration would not result in a clunk, but starting off the line more quickly would. My belief is that it was the brake pad change that fixed it.

 

Turns out the clank I'm hearing is likely related to the spider gears in my rear differential.
My 2017 is a used purchase. After I got acquainted with the sounds, wobbles, and overall ride, I took it to dealer for sanity/health check.
They diagnosed the faulty spider gears.
The good news is that they claim it's covered under powertrain warranty.
The bad news is that the gears are on back order with >45 day ETA.
Looks like I'm not the only one with the issue.
2017 Jeep Wrangler part on back order - JK-Forum.com - The top destination for Jeep JK and JL Wrangler news, rumors, and discussion (jk-forum.com)

 

Do you have the capability to pull the carrier out and swap the spider gears yourself? If so, probably worth the $160-180 or so for aftermarket spider gears and a few hours time to swap em in vs waiting that long.

 

Never done it before, but I guess it could be a fun weekend project. Now see what you did @resharp001 ?? :-P

 

This is a long read through, but here is another member going through same process.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/stoc...estion-356123/

Just saying, if you decide to tackle it yourself, several of us are here to help. Sometimes it's not about the money or warranty as much as it is just getting something fixed and rolling again. Do you know if your jeep has Trac Lok or is open diff in the rear? Example pictures in that other thread.

 

@resharp001 - thanks for the encouragement and the link. The link actually convinced me I don't currently have the tools to do it. (loved the thread - lots of good reference in there for future) And given that I live alone way out of town and the Jeep is my only transportation, I didn't want to wind up in a situation where I couldn't get to a part (or a tool). I'm a wanna-be wrench monkey... will get there someday. But, given that the spider gears were covered under warranty, I decided to let Jeep do this one. I did post an update to the warranty thread...
2017 Jeep Wrangler part on back order - JK-Forum.com - The top destination for Jeep JK and JL Wrangler news, rumors, and discussion (jk-forum.com)
In summary - dealer fixed - zero cost. and no scenario where I'm stuck in my garage without a part - lol
I'll keep up with the forums. I'll start small - next differential fluid change will be on me. I'll step it up from there and so on. Thanks again - appreciate it.

 

Y, saw your post on the other thread, and glad you got the situation resolved regardless. It pays to be persistent! We're always here to help best we can. Just sharing experiences can help someone in the future so thank you for following up.