I searched earlier on this subject and only found people complaining about noise and that they should've got another gear for the street. The question I have is that I know Richmond's are supposed to have some form of whine, but it is whining on acceleration and deceleration, but makes no noise when coasting. Is this typical or should I take it back to the shop and get them to check if they set it right. Any input would be appreciated.

 

Noise from aftermarket gears is normal. Richmond is good quality gears. They are noisier because the material they are made out of is harder than OEM gears. Their sales people and the installation manual warn you right away that you will hear more noise from the rear after you install them.

Having said that, I can't say that the noise you are hearing is normal. It could also be bad bearing.

Noise on acceleration/deceleration is what I would expect because that's when gear teeth actually engage each other. When you are coasting, there is very little torque transfered between the gear teeth.

 

I read somewhere that noise while accelerating was not a good sign. The rear end was pretty much totally rebuilt with a new carrier, all new shims and bearings, and new gears.

 

Yeah, you might want to check something out. When I got my new rear end, it whined accelerating/decelerating. I asked around and people said it was normal for the Richmond gears, so I didn't think anything about it. Three weeks later, I had 3 broken ring teeth. It could have been a problem specific to me though.

So, checking the gears out to make sure they are set right couldn't hurt.

 

U.S. Gears are generally very quiet, when compared to the Richmonds, and sometimes cheaper too. What gear ratio are you looking for?

 

My Richmonds whine on acceleration pretty much everywhere from ~40mph on up, but not during coasting or deceleration. They've been in there for 2 full seasons now, I experimented with increasingly thicker gear oils with no effect. Currently running Redline Heavy Shockproof and still same whine, but I can live with it.

 

I have a set of richmond 3.23's and the only time I ever hear a wine is on decel, on accel they are as quiet as stock.