Back in the early '80's, every Ford F-150 would clunk if the foot was taken off the accelerator. Too loud of a clunk is not normal but Mr. T is right - some play is necessary. If there was no play what-so-ever there would be a lot of stress on your driveline, esp. when cornering as most SUV’s have relatively short wheelbases. The driveshaft on my 2001 Cherokee (145K) can be moved a couple of millimetres by simply crawling under the truck gripping the driveshaft and wiggling it. An independant mechanic might give you an objective opinion.
Every vehicle has its idiosyncrasies and 4x4s are especially prone to odd driveline noises because they have 10x the number of moving parts then any FWD car. Aside from the parts you’ve mentioned you could also check u-joints, CV joints even the rear differential. As long as they don't leave me stranded, I've just given up and accepted mine. I’m not going to fix any intermittent noises until a failure manifests itself or appears to be on the verge of an imminent failure. I’ve got a couple odd intermittent driveline creaks that came with the vehicle that haven’t gotten any worse after 30K so I’m not touching them. I suspect it is more annoying than anything. A well-maintained Pathy should give you 300K
