Is it normal to have a howl after gears been installed? What makes them howl. I have Motive 4.10s and the back-lash I was told was .008.

 

at what speeds do you hear the howl?

 

Don't mean to steal your thread but I also had motive 4.10's installed with a ratech solid pinion spacer as well as a LS1 aluminum driveshaft and I also have a howling sound from the rear. Mine seems to occur from about 35mph and gets worse from there. Any ideas? Would a normal cush sleeve help silence the rearend? My brother's 95 T/A had motive 4.10's and they were silent.

 

I honestly don't think there's much you can do. Richmond's have a bad rep for being loud gears, and I experienced that with my 3.73's before, but now these 4.10's are very quiet (both sets have been Richmond, and setup by the same mechanic).

Unless whoever installed them got the measurements way off, then I think (unfortunately) you guys simply got "noisy" sets of gears.

Also, the deeper ratio you go to, the more naturally prone gears will be to whine, because the pinion is spinning so much faster compared to, let's say, 2.73's.

OR, do what I did.....get your money back for them, since they are obviously bad, and get a new set of gears. Trust me, your enjoyment out of the car will be 10X better if you're not constantly pi$$ed off about whining gears.

 

So you are saying that if they howl at any speed like mine do they are a bad set of gears? I got 50miles on them so far will they get quieter once they are broke in??

 

I've got Motive 4.11 gears, and I forget what the mechanic set the backlash, but it was tight. I'm thinking he said 4/1000

They howl any time they are not under load, and they whine at all other times.

 

Thats what mine do. So does anybody know if thats bad???? Or good?
Any Doctors in the house.....

 

.004 is really tight, but i guess if tats what the gears call for, that what to go with. Some shops just like to set them up tighter.

On the other hand, I just finished my own gear install for the third time in as many days, and I set the backlash of m ine to .010, since that is in the middle of what strange recommends for their gears (.008-.012). My pattern was right on the money on the third time, but I think I torqued the pinion nut on just a little to tight, causing a slightly higher preload than normal and a slight whine.

All in all, I put about 100 miles on it so far and I can definately live with it since those 2.73 boat anchors are out of my car. But I think when the 500 miles rolls around, and I change the fluid, I think I am going to run thicker 75w/140 gear oil because I heard that that can lessen the whine a little.

 

Some gears are just noisy. My 4:10 Richmonds in my old Monte were noisy. My Z28 now has Richmond 3:73s and have a slight whine.
On the other hand...incorrectly set gears will be very noisy. Do some research on the gears you have. Some are supposed to whine a bit. Excessive noise usually means something is wrong.

 

I e-mailed Motive Gears Tech site heres what they told me.

These 7.5 and 7.6 rear end set ups are known for their howl, and even a good majority of the vehicles driven off the showroom floor experience it,especially the F body cars. For some reason the sound travels right up the drive train. With that being said, good GM mechanics can keep it to a minimum. Please let me know what Motive Gear part number was used, and who did your set up. We will see what we can do for you.


Thanks, Motive Gear