No4NJunk

I had a friend of mine install some 3.73 gears in my rear end. He SAID he knew what hes was doing but obviously he didn't because ever since then there has been a whine coming from the rear which gets loader at high speeds. It really wasn't that bad until today on my way back to college. It got REAL load and now when I'm stopping ( and the speed decrease from around 25-0) there is a bad grind/whine. When I am driving real slow I can Here it also. Could this be bad gear set up. Or should I try adding gear oil.

ede

if you don't already have gear oil in it you should, but by now it may be too late. richmond gears tend to make more noise than gm gears. did you watch your friend set up the gears? did he check pinion depth, bearing preload, back lash? if he never you most likely have problems.

No4NJunk

yes he did check backlash and pinion depth and yes there was oil in it but I'm thinking the oil leaked out or mysteriously dissapeared. ??? I don't know.

88 427 Camaro

If you can hear the gears whining over what you have listed for an exhaust system (ie loud), then there is definately something wrong with the setup of the gears. It only takes a few thousanths of an inch in backlash to start to cause problems.

What was the pinion preload and carrier preload set to? and what does the gear pattern look like?

Miles

RB83L69

If the oil leaked out and the whole thing has been running dry, then you need to find a whole rear end. The pinion and carrier bearings, axle bearings & axles themselves, gears, and everything else is going to be toasted.

What I would suggest you do is first take off the cover and look in there and see if there's any visible destruction. If there's really no lube, then it's fornicated, and you just need to go to the junkyard and get another one. Look for one out of a 6-cylinder car, they're often 3.42s.

If you're lucky it's just the pinion bearings. If there's lube in it and the gears look OK, then that's probably all that's wrong, which means he didn't get the bearing preload (crush sleeve) right. If that's the case, get a new crush sleeve and seal and bearings (you can get a kit from Summit with the scrush sleeve & seal and new shim pack, it's a Ratech 400 series, maybe a 408K IIRC, and get the bearings from NAPA or somewhere); take the carrier out, and remove the pinion, and change the bearing races in the housing; take the pinion to a machine shop and get them to remove the old head (inner) bearing and press on the new one, using the shim that's there (should probably be .035"); and put it all back together yourself. You'll need a tool for holding the yoke still while you tighten the nut: I use a piece is 1-1/2" x 3/16" x 3' steel strip stock with 2 holes near one edge such that I can bolt it to the yoke with 2 of the U-joint bolts, but not interfere with getting a socket (1-1/4" on the nut. Tighten the nut until the crush sleeve starts to crush (the nut will suddenly start getting much harder to turn); check the gear end play; keep tightening it a little at a time until the end play goes away, then tighten it up until it takes about 12 inch-pounds to turn the pinion. This should be about 1/4 turn more on the nut after you take up all the play, but use the torque measurement to get it right. Then put the carrier back in with the same shims.

You may even find that all that's wrong is that the pinion nut has just backed off. If so, pull out the carrier, and tighten it as I described above, to get the crush sleeve's crush correct, and put it back together.

No4NJunk

Thanks so much!!!

No4NJunk

How do I check how much gear oil is in the rear end. Where is the plug???

MouseCamaro305

the plugs on the side of the carrier, use your finger as a dipstick, but if l were you l'd just pull the entine diff cover off, and make a full inspection. ede staded that usually richmonds make more noise, but when l installed my 3.73's they werent really that loud, every now and then they'd make a tiny tiny bit of noise, it was hardly even noticable unless youd listen for it. if the gears actually grinded, like you said, you might have lost a or many teeth off the ring or pinion. if the depth and backlash is even a little tiny bit off the gears will tend to be tempermental. richmonds can even be installed to be quiet gears. double check with your friend who installed the gears that they used the proper tools, to measure backlash (backlash indicator) and pinion depth (micrometer) did you properly break them in?

No4NJunk

Mine were pretty quiet too until recently when they started making that whine. I'm hoping theres no damage but what kind should I get??