Hey guys,

My car has been in the shop the past week after the rear started "howling". Turns out the pinion bearings were shot (and shop says rear axle bearings were also "worn") which caused the problem. It was really loud. Anyway, I picked up a Richmond "Mega" rebuild kit that came with all the bearings and seals and I also picked up a new ring and pinion, also from Richmond along with a Ratech Solid pinion spacer.

The shop got everything together but said on the test drive there was still a pretty loud whine on acceleration and deceleration but it was quiet when just cruising. They pulled it back apart, swapped the shimms for a different (better?) fit and have said that there is still a bit of a whine coming from the rear. They didn't say if it was better than the first attempt.

I haven't heard it myself but I have read where new gears will whine a bit until broken in. I'm just curious as to the truth of this and if anyone has had any issues like this? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

if the gears are set up correctly, they want whine.

 

So then they screwed something up on the instal? Could they have set it up wrong the first time and damaged something on the small test drive?

Or there is some other noise...transmission or something that they are hearing? I just don't want to accept the car and then have to take it back in 3 months and spend another $800 to fix it.

 

When I rebuilt my 9 bolt, the technician strongly suggested new gears, even though the stock ones were in good shape so you did the right thing by purchasing the gears in my opinion. I would ask to see the gear pattern either in person or through a photo - that has to be correct to avoid noise and wear issues. Backlash is also critical. SO in other words the gears have to be set up correctly.

 

Most likely that's your problem right there.

If they're the Richmond drag race gears, that is extremely common with them, since it's not an issue for single-purpose racing gears. Those are intended for particular applications (drag racing) where whine doesn't matter, so out of all the various compromises taht can be made in gear design, that parameter was left very low on the list - or maybe even NOT on it at all.

 

indeed, most if not all of the aftermarket gear sets will whine to some degree.

 

I know Richmond sells, or at least advertises both drag race and street gears. I made sure I specified the street gears and according to what came in, the P/N matches what summit's web site says are street gears. However, with what the mechanic mentioned them doing, it sounds like the whine was as bad after they replaced them as it was before the replaced the bearings, so it leads me to believe they weren't set up right.

Anyway, now the original shop gave up and I had to take it to an axle specialty shop that's 60 miles away. They also groaned when I mentioned my new gears were richmond and said I should have gone with Motive (which they sell of course...). I told them I don't want to spend another $400 on new parts that I just bought so either put the old gears back in or use the new ones, I don't care. I know the pinion bearing was bad and that's been replaced along with all of the other bearings. So, all they should have to do now is just set it up right.

 

Well, five minutes after I posted, it seems the new shop calls. Seems the old shop over-torqued the bearings...sounds like they are going to try and sucker me into buying new stuff. Not sure I have any choice though really. I must have it done right because it is my daily driver.