L98IROCZ89

So many people say that aftermarket rear end gears will tend to whine due to the nature of the stronger gearset.

On the other hand, so many swear that rear end gears only do that when they are not setup/installed properly.

I have heard both of these opinions hundreds of times each. Which is true? I have heard that a gear that whines is cut differently (straight cut / or angle cut) and the strength is a function of this. Someone who knows their **** set this straight.

Mine whine, I think. The reason why I say this is because: I can only hear this humming/whining when the car is in 5th or 6th gear because then the exhaust noise is not drowning everything else out. I wonder all the time whether that is the overdrive gear whining or the rear end.

Anyway.... fact or fiction?

Corry

Well, I wont say I know my **** but I will say I did some looking into this after blowing 4 rear ends!
Both those are sorta correct. SOme aftermarket gears whine a bunch because of the way they are cut, richmonds are especially known for this, hell in their "install papers" they warn you that the gears will whine.
All gears when installed improperly or worn (usually its not that the gears are worn, but the parts that are supposed to allow the gears to ONLY rotate and not move on any other axis) will whine. The whine will steadily get louder (experience talking here) until you will notice you have your radio up as loud as it can go w/o distortion (well my 40W stereo anyways) to cover it up. Then 1 of 2 things happen, it grenades (had this happen once) Loud thunderous sound and your car either doesn't move anymore, or it moves but has a repititious clunk, or the minor grenade which you don't hear, the rear end just develops a repititious clunk (again talking from experience here). I can also say that my now properly installed richmonds don't mack too much noise, in fact, at highways speeds its almost not even audible over the exhaust and tire noise. The shop I went to had trouble lining up the gears so I had the car out with the gears improperly installed so I hear the terrible whining of the rear with the gears in wrong. (not just "worn") It was identicle to the noise I described as having to have the radio up full blast to cover it up lol

IceBlue91z28

Aftermarket gears do whine. I have richmond 3.73's and they wind under light acceleration. Sometimes, even stock performance gears whine. My friend has a 9 bolt with like 3.27 gears or something in his TA from the factory and they whine. It should only whine sometimes not always and just let the gears break in and its gets quieter and whines less.

ede

richmonds tend to make more noise than most if not all correctly installed gear sets

90Formula-X-F

Noise will probley cause premature wear. That would be a normal in rear ends. I have never installed a set of Richmond gears. I have overhauled a ton of rear ends and after getting more experiance through the years I don't have gear whine when a ring gear and pinion is properly set up. Pinion dept would usually be the key to getting the pattern correctly matched to the ring gear. Regardless of material I would think that should hould true through out materials but if a company like Richmond cuts gear angles diffrent than it's very possible they could be noisy. I would think that they would then make a poor choice for most people who enjoy their car on the street more than the track

justadba

ordered a set of richmond 3.73 from DTS. the tech on the line told me that the richmonds would be a little 'noisier' than stock. he said i could buy a set he had from italy (motive???) that weren't as 'noisy' BUT he felt the richmonds were better (they were also $5.00 less)

he also mentioned that MOST cars have had exhaust mods (i.e. headers or catbacks, etc) and stereo 'upgrades' and the increase in noise would be unnoticeable in that case...

add to that i have a 'vert so that is even more inherent noise...

Redliner

Go to your local clutch and drive shaft place, They usually do gears.
My guy Cosmo, has been in the business for 32 years. Says Richmond is CRAP! He could have sold me the best gears on the market for $20 dollars more than I paid Summit for Richmonds and they wouldn't whine.
Another thing rear girdle plates for the rear are just $140 peices of jewelry.