Increased Gear Whine
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From: Cincinnati, OH
Increased Gear Whine Ok so my 3.42 broke about 40k miles ago and I got richmond 4.10s put into my car. They were actually less noisy than the 3.42s were that I broke. When I did my tunnel mount torque arm my gears got louder but that is to be expected. It used to be pretty bearable and wasn't too loud unless you were going 65-75 anything below or above was not really that vocal. Well now everything is loud. When I'm going 80 it is now loud and when im going 20 it is pretty vocal too...its just ridiculous. I can hear it on both accel and decel. It overshadows my true dual setup which is pretty loud. What can be done? Will I just need a new set of gears and have it completely redone?
this seems to be a very common problem with fbody's...my buddy ended up ditchin his richmond 3.73's and going back to stocker 3.23's because he couldn't stand the noise. No shop around here could get them to run quietly even remotely.
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First off, the reason why after market gears whine is because they are cut at a different angle for strength, Some whine more than others especially after break in. I have always heard that Richmond were the loudest, I have a Moser, dont know what brand gears are in, but new it was totally quiet, after "Proper" break in they have a whine from about 55 to 70 mph, right after that, they are quiet.
First off, the reason why after market gears whine is because they are cut at a different angle for strength, Some whine more than others especially after break in. I have always heard that Richmond were the loudest, I have a Moser, dont know what brand gears are in, but new it was totally quiet, after "Proper" break in they have a whine from about 55 to 70 mph, right after that, they are quiet.
My 3.42's now are a bit noisey, but not too bad. I put the top down and it's a non-issue....
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From: Cincinnati, OH
depends on if it's set up correctly...if the shop put the gears in make them set them up again and you shouldn't have to pay for their mistake but if you did it then youre sotl
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From: Rochester, NY
If your gears get a lot louder on deceleration, than there's a very good chance that your pinion bearings aren't preloaded enough. Unfortnately the shop will have to take your diff mostly apart, including unbolting your carrier with the ring gear still bolted to it.
Once they get that out of the way they'll be able to check the pinion preload and tighten it up by tightening the pinion nut.
That 'deceleration whine' is caused by the pinion gear being too loose and getting sucked slightly closer into mesh while slowing down because of the shape of the teeth on the gears.
I could be wrong, but I'm almost positive that's your problem. I ran into this same problem the first time I set up my own differential, and had to take it apart and redo it.
Never really did have good luck with Richmond gears though, they were always noisy. The Strange Engineering gears I've got now have lasted through much more of a beating than both sets of my old Richmonds combined.
Once they get that out of the way they'll be able to check the pinion preload and tighten it up by tightening the pinion nut.
That 'deceleration whine' is caused by the pinion gear being too loose and getting sucked slightly closer into mesh while slowing down because of the shape of the teeth on the gears.
I could be wrong, but I'm almost positive that's your problem. I ran into this same problem the first time I set up my own differential, and had to take it apart and redo it.
Never really did have good luck with Richmond gears though, they were always noisy. The Strange Engineering gears I've got now have lasted through much more of a beating than both sets of my old Richmonds combined.
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i'm adding this into this thread just for information..
how many of you that install gears check ring gear runout?
when i install gears, theres several things i do that alot of people dont. i dont use a crush sleeve i use the solid crush sleeve. ive seen crush sleeves collapse a little and ive seen them completely collapse..
i always back figure for my pinion depth.. this is where most people screw up i think.
your pinion depth isnt just measured from the flat of the carrier bearing saddle.. i measure the bearing race, divide that by 2, then depth mic the housing saddle itself, then add the difference of half the race to the depth of the saddle..
most of the time the housing saddle is off a few thousandths, ive seen as much as .006 before, this would change your pinion depth by as much, and botching the gear install..
how many of you that install gears check ring gear runout?
when i install gears, theres several things i do that alot of people dont. i dont use a crush sleeve i use the solid crush sleeve. ive seen crush sleeves collapse a little and ive seen them completely collapse..
i always back figure for my pinion depth.. this is where most people screw up i think.
your pinion depth isnt just measured from the flat of the carrier bearing saddle.. i measure the bearing race, divide that by 2, then depth mic the housing saddle itself, then add the difference of half the race to the depth of the saddle..
most of the time the housing saddle is off a few thousandths, ive seen as much as .006 before, this would change your pinion depth by as much, and botching the gear install..
TECH Regular
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 492
Likes: 0
From: Rochester, NY
i'm adding this into this thread just for information..
how many of you that install gears check ring gear runout?
when i install gears, theres several things i do that alot of people dont. i dont use a crush sleeve i use the solid crush sleeve. ive seen crush sleeves collapse a little and ive seen them completely collapse..
i always back figure for my pinion depth.. this is where most people screw up i think.
your pinion depth isnt just measured from the flat of the carrier bearing saddle.. i measure the bearing race, divide that by 2, then depth mic the housing saddle itself, then add the difference of half the race to the depth of the saddle..
most of the time the housing saddle is off a few thousandths, ive seen as much as .006 before, this would change your pinion depth by as much, and botching the gear install..
how many of you that install gears check ring gear runout?
when i install gears, theres several things i do that alot of people dont. i dont use a crush sleeve i use the solid crush sleeve. ive seen crush sleeves collapse a little and ive seen them completely collapse..
i always back figure for my pinion depth.. this is where most people screw up i think.
your pinion depth isnt just measured from the flat of the carrier bearing saddle.. i measure the bearing race, divide that by 2, then depth mic the housing saddle itself, then add the difference of half the race to the depth of the saddle..
most of the time the housing saddle is off a few thousandths, ive seen as much as .006 before, this would change your pinion depth by as much, and botching the gear install..
I did read somewhere online, and then heard the same thing from a gear installer at a very reputable local shop that on our specific 10-bolt differentials that GM uses basically the exact same pinion shim on each car.
Its been a couple years since I set up my differential, and I can't for the life of me remember the exact number, but I'm pretty sure the pinion shim thickness was .029". This .029" shim apparently was used in nearly every single GM 10-bolt from '82 and on.
Its a couple years later and after many many long brake stands and 4500rpm clutch dumps on drag radials my gears are quiet as can be, so I guess I did something right lol