Gears & Axles - Whining gears

Hey guys I recently bought a used 10 bolt with 4.10s and got it installed. It whines pretty good at around 50-60 mph but only under light throttle (maintaining speed) but when accelerating and decelerating it either stops or is greatly reduced. I'm mainly just wondering if there may be a serious problem or if it's maybe just that the backlash or setup is slightly off. It runs very smooth and doesn't whine or is barely noticeable any other time. Does anybody have an idea? I realize without tearing into it it's hard to diagnose but I'm just looking for opinions. The gears have a good pattern and felt smooth with no pinion play. Thanks for any opinions

It sounds fairly typical, you'll get this type of sound with a lot of aftermarket gears. Bob

Thanks Bob, I assume there's only one true way to know for sure and that would be to have someone check the setup. But I don't really have anyone close and really I don't want to have to take the rear out and tear into it unless there is a good chance that something is seriously wrong. I guess after several fairly hard launches and driving it I should know if something is really wrong - cause it'll come out. I know I'll have to be careful with the 10 bolt and a M6 anyway but I just wanted some opinions. Thanks!

Thanks Bob, I assume there's only one true way to know for sure and that would be to have someone check the setup. But I don't really have anyone close and really I don't want to have to take the rear out and tear into it unless there is a good chance that something is seriously wrong. I guess after several fairly hard launches and driving it I should know if something is really wrong - cause it'll come out. I know I'll have to be careful with the 10 bolt and a M6 anyway but I just wanted some opinions. Thanks!

You're welcome. It sounds like yours makes the exact same noise my '77 T/A did back in '78 after I installed a '70 T/A 12 bolt into it, along with 4.10 gears. I too thought something was wrong with it, but nothing was. Those gears are still in that 12 bolt today! Below is a current picture of this T/A. Bob

http://brutespeed.com/Block%20with%20heads%20on%202.jpg

Good deal. So you still have the '77? That's awesome, looks like you're in the middle of restoring it. Are you going to keeping it fairly original or are you going for a ground pounder?

Good deal. So you still have the '77? That's awesome, looks like you're in the middle of restoring it. Are you going to keeping it fairly original or are you going for a ground pounder?

I sold it back in '81 when I bought a new '82 Z28 to modify. The '77 went through four or so owners then my brother bought it in the mid 80's and he still has it. We are in the middle of building it, we're starting with a new LS3 block, have MAST black label heads for it, Kooks 1-7/8 headers, etc. We'll have an ProCharger F series blower on it. Bob

Sounds good! Good luck with it!

dont taKE it as anything but my recently installed 4.10s are quiet all the time. normal,moderate and aggressive driving it doesnt matter i dont hear a thing.

I'm assuming that there is something that isn't exactly right with the setup of the gears but I really just was looking for opinions on if it might be serious. I am probably just going to run it until she blows anyway. Your's is setup correct apparently

You will hear from many guys that aftermarket gears whine. Honesty my opinion is that they should be pretty quiet if they are set up correctly from the beginning. My Moser 12 bolt with 3.73 gears whine a little at cruise - it drives me crazy and some day they will get replaced and set correctly. I don't think the whine will cause any issues with a mild horsepower build but I don't think it's correct.

My 3.73 gears make noise a bit. Oh well lol

Yeah that's kind of what I was thinking. And right now I don't have a real increase in power from stock. It's pretty much a k&n fipk and a catback. I would like to do a cam and headers eventually but that'll be later. Like you, one day I will take care of the problem but I think it's going to stay for now. I appreciate everyone's thoughts.

im told whining at least a loud and noticeable one is the beginning of a failure waiting to happen.

but im talking noticeably loud and gradually getting worse. my groaned for yrs but when i had new gears installed i was told it was a complete implosion.

Well I figure whether it's a serious problem or not it'll have to stay like it is for a while or until it gives up. And I'm figuring that it will hold for a while And I should know when it's getting ready to go

Motive 4.10s - quiet as a mouse unless setup incorrectly.

Richmond 4.10s - whine no matter how well they are setup.

The rear end I just purchased has Richmond 4.10s and has whined since day one exactly how you mentioned it. I have no fear in running it and full expect it to blow under the power I am making, lol.

Also, depending on how loud your exhaust is really could make or break if you hear the gears whining or not. I know there is pretty much no chance I will hear this rear end whining.

I definitely agree that the exhaust makes a big difference as far as if you can hear the rear or not. My exhaust is a dynomax catback with stock manifolds and y pipe. It's not very loud until WOT then it's pretty loud so that may be part of it. I still dont like listening to it! Haha but oh well! We'll see what happens!

Strictly opinion - but I believe a majority of the time the whine from the rearend is amplified by the type of torque arm (ta) you have.

If the ta is tranmission mounted the whine will be a lot less, if any at all, compared to a ta that is tunnel mounted. And if the ta is the rotater type tunnel mount it will for sure whine and even clunk on accel or decel.

A poly or rubber tranmission mount can cause whine too. Rubber absorbs whine and vibration much better than poly.

So IMO even if nothing changed during the swap other than the rearend, a minor change in setup of the replacement rearend can be just enough to start whine if you have an aftermarket ta even if you didn't hear it before. All of the hollow tubing in a ta is perfect for transmitting sound as well as the poly bushings at the front of the ta.

As soon as I replaced my stock stamped steel ta with a Spohn tunnel mount model 405 ta I started to hear whine. I never heard whine with the stock ta. I am not dissing the Spohn ta for quality or function, it's just very noisy.

For me, if I wasn't at the rwhp I am at (565), I would go back to the stock stamped steel transmission mounted torque arm in a minute. I am going to Dynamat the floor and backend of the car - I think that will help a lot.

I can understand the difference between torque arms but everything on my car as far as suspension goes is stock. So I believe in my case it's just either a poor setup or possibly a rear going bad

^ or you just have Richmond gears that are properly setup, lol.

Its probably fine, drive it. Some whine is not unheard of in a fresh built 10 bolt with aftermarket gears. I have built several, do the same thing to everyone I built. Use same brand of gear, some make noise some do not. Mine is make noise right now, since rebuilt. I am getting ready to take mine on a 2 hour road trip to LS Fest, beat the shit out of it and drive it 2 hours back home...;)

When I first installed my 4.10's in my Camaro, they were fairly loud under deceleration. Probably due to me not being very precise with the measurements. Now that I have installed a new set in my WS6 they are very quiet except coasting at 45-40 mph they make very little noise (hardly noticeable). This time I made sure to do the backlash and pinion depth carefully and took my time and it paid off :) (btw I dont care what anyone says, its not hard to install them yourself as long as you have the proper tooling and patience).