fa18007

Alright, I need help. My rear was howling when I had 2.73s and I brought it in. I got a new 3.73 AAM ring and pinion, new bearings, and auburn posi unit. The rear still howls and whirs the exact same from about 20 mph and up. It is mostly loud on the accell and decell. I can't bring it back to the shop that did the gears cause i moved 800 miles the day after i got the car back. I decided to do a fluid change and take a peak. the fluid was silver, not a great sign since i have only put 1500 miles on these gears. You can see the metal filings on the magnet. I dont know much about gear wear patterns, so i need some expert opinions. I put in Lucas non-sinthetic 80W90 and GM anti-slip in it and it still makes the same noise. What is goin on?????





Also, the last pic is of where my drive shaft meets the trans. Does everything look normal???

2K2WS6TA

iTrader: (2)

Looks like the ring gear has a step in the gear teeth, that could be the source of your metal and the howling, beg, borrow or rent a dial indicator and check the backlash

fa18007

I dunno how to do that or what to check for. It didnt feel like there was a step in the teeth, it looks like that in the pic though cause of the lighting.

2K2WS6TA

iTrader: (2)

http://www.keliente.com/gears.htm
That should help explain backlash

slowpoke96z28

iTrader: (2)

you can tell where you've lost a LITTLE tranny fluid through the seal. if you happen to pull the driveshaft for any reason, pop a new seal in and check the yoke for any grooves of burs where it rides on the seal.

Armageddon

iTrader: (41)

The tooth pattern looks normal on the ring gear. Backlash would cause the howling noise your talking about. That amount of metal on those magnets is normal. You need a dial indicator with a magnet base to check your backlash.

Armageddon

iTrader: (41)

Also, you said it was making the same noise after the gear swap... Makes me wonder if you've got bad U-Joints. Does the car vibrate at all?

fa18007

car doesnt vibrate, just a whirring noise that turns into a howl at high speed. the noise sounds exactly as it did with the old gears though, and its definatly coming from the back of the car.

2002_Z28_Six_Speed

iTrader: (19)

I believe that a good wear pattern on a gear tooth is when you see that it is wearing on the center of the tooth and not all to one side.

2K2WS6TA

iTrader: (2)

True, but to make certain, you'll have to use some marking compund on the teeth, then spin the gears to truly see what the pattern is
FWIW they probably used the same shims that the rear came in with when they set it up (pretty common practice), whoever built it needs to do it again, and this time they need to run all the measurements, and change shims, and get it right, a properly set up rear end shouldn't howl like a banshee