the famous clunk when changing gears

I recently bought my 96 defender and I am trying to resolve the "major" issues, despite that it runs quite smoothly.
I am having the following issue:
When pressing on the clutch to change gear, a noticeable clunk can be heard upon releasing the clutch. It is more audible when shifting from 3 to 4 and from 4 to 5. It does not sound like a mechanical clunk. More like a spring clunk. Any idea where to start looking ? Did you have any experience with this?

yerba said:

I recently bought my 96 defender and I am trying to resolve the "major" issues, despite that it runs quite smoothly.
I am having the following issue:
When pressing on the clutch to change gear, a noticeable clunk can be heard upon releasing the clutch. It is more audible when shifting from 3 to 4 and from 4 to 5. It does not sound like a mechanical clunk. More like a spring clunk. Any idea where to start looking ? Did you have any experience with this?

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first check would be drivetrain play for me.

On a land rover if it runs and moves the fault is not major
Faults that would stop normal cars simply do not apply to most land rovers.

Output gear spline wear, dead common, proper fix expensive, cheap bodge fix is just new gear, works well and I have done a few.
Other one is rear axle top ball joint worn, can be an arse to change.
Drive member spline wear.
The list goes on and on!

As above, driveshaft/drive member spline wear is very common and causes exactly the symptoms you described.

It's usually the rears, but l would replace all the drive members as they are so cheap.
Front driveshafts don't seem to wear so much, probably because of oil leakage from the swivels and various oil seals.
l fitted Britpart driveshafts/drive members and they've lasted 60,000 miles so far.

Don't forget the paper gasket behind the drive members

Although you have said it sounds like a spring clunk rather than a mechanical clunk as well as checking the drive members (or just replacing, they are quite cheap) I would also go over the suspension items with a pry bar to check for wear. Clunks on gear change and taking uo/lifting off drive are common if the bushes are on the way out or the a-frame ball joint has failed, but they are usually lound mechanical rather than spring noises. as said above, springy noise is likely to be a drive train somewhere.