i just recently changed my gearing to 3.73's on my t/a and now when im driving i can hear a little bit of a sorta whining noise is the only way i can describe it. i figured this is just normal as when you normally hear geared down stuff it has this sort of noise but i just wanted to make sure i dont blow up my brand new richmonds lol

 

A lot of aftermarket gears, including the richmonds tend to be a little noisy but if it's a very distinct whining something is not right. Who did the gear set swap? Did you see the pattern they pulled?

 

i did the swap with my dad (20 yr ASE mechanic) who assured me that the gear pattern was as a great match. and the whining isnt loud, i can hear it if im driving next to a cement median or something like that. there arent any other sounds coming from it though. when i brought it up to him he said it sounded fine. my brother has 4.56's in his 89 jimmy and it 'sings a song' as my dad says but there have never been any issues with it, its just the gearing

 

The higher the #, the more tendency toward whining; and the Richmond gears, not being designed for the street and a VERY bad idea to put in a street car at all, tend to be noisier than others.

The reason those are NOT a good choice for the street, is that their metallurgy is optimized for surviving the shock of the launch in drag racing. THis is accomplished at the expense of # of miles type of longevity. Stock and similar gears are surface-hardened VERY hard, so that they will be able to wear as long as possible. But Richmond leaves their metal softer, so that instead of chipping and shattering like dropping a coffee cup, the way stock-ish gears fail, their metal is "tougher" and will deform a bit and absorb the shock. Down side is, the wear life is DRASTICALLY less. It's not a matter of "quality" or anything like that (they're perfectly "good" parts, maybe the best there is for what they're actually for), but rather, suitability for purpose. Just like if you were buying a car to be a limousine... you wouldn't buy a Corvette, or a Mack truck, or any of a large number of other "quality" things, any more than you'd buy a Cadillac or a Lincoln if you wanted to go canyon-carving or haul gravel; becauase they're simply the wrong thing for the purpose at hand.

And, the tooth shape is also different from stock, for the same reasons, which is what makes them tend to be noisier.

So I'd say, at this point, you're about as good as it can get. Most people who post what you are asking, are talking about unbearable howling like you can hear a block away. Which, for the purpose for which they are designed, might be acceptable, but I sure wouldn't want to spend my 45 minute each way commute listening to it.

 

this car is no longer a daily driver. if anything its just a fun weekend car. and at that i dont go very far and i plan on doing some 1/4 mile stuff this year hopefully. only reason why i got richmonds was cuz i was told they were more dependable than any other gears out there, i understand each item has their application, but according to the break in instructions for these gears they are also designed for towing, street, drag strip, and circle track racing