Gear Whine

[Marauder131]

A while back I got 4.10's installed in my Marauder. Although the installer claimed that there was no audible whine, I could here a faint whine come on at 50 km/h and then disipate a little, but then be quite noticable at 80 km/h and higher. I took the car back to get this checked out and fixed a while later. The tech claimed that the bearing needed tightening and all was well. I'm not sure why it would be loose, but anyway. The car still exhibits the same whine as before. I have Ford racing 4.10's by the way.

The person that dyno tuned my car claims that the higher the gear ratio, the more noise one should expect, but that my gears are fine from his observations. Personally, I believe that the whine I am hearing is indicative of the gears not being set right. There seems to be two trains of thought. From threads I have read, it seems as though Ford Racing gears can be hit or miss nowadays. Nevertheless, I am curious if at least some whine is normal for such gears.

[sd8683]

When I got mine installed the mechanic reccomended for me to take it easy on the car the first couple of days, meaning no long highway trips and no WOT, he said it could screw up the gears

[oldekid]

When I got mine installed the mechanic reccomended for me to take it easy on the car the first couple of days, meaning no long highway trips and no WOT, he said it could screw up the gearsSame here. I think they suggested a 200 mile break in period, which I did, but it about killed me. :banana: No whine so far.

[CRUZTAKER]

A little bit of WINE never hurt anyone.:D

Mine still whines a bit at 45-50.
KOOKS headers corrected that problem. Now I cannot hear the whine. :baaa:

It's backlash adjustment...if it's suble...so be it.

[safado]

There are many theories on the whine.. Some say it because the way gears are cut.. Now some of the ford gears are made by motive and of lower quality.. you can tell which they are by either a A or a M or G in the part number... The only person that I would love to ask this question to is a experience gear only shop... When I installed a set of Richmonds in a Ford 8 inch the instructions said to leave the car in the air and in gear at about 20MPH for 20 mins...

[Zack]

I just had gears put in the Blue and they whine something fierce.
Its not the install, that Im sure of.

Many, many bad Ford Racing gears floating around these days.

[Marauder131]

I just had gears put in the Blue and they whine something fierce.
Its not the install, that Im sure of.

Many, many bad Ford Racing gears floating around these days.

I wouldn't doubt it, as when my gears were put in they were way out. It took considerable shimming to get them close. As the shop that did the install is some distance away, I'm debating whether they didn't shim them close enough, or has been indicated, if it might sinply be an issue with the gears themselves.

[TooManyFords]

I just had gears put in the Blue and they whine something fierce.
Its not the install, that Im sure of.

Many, many bad Ford Racing gears floating around these days.

I'd be willing to bet it -was- the install. Sorry to hear it (figuratively speaking anyway)

Get a second opinion and have it checked.

[Fourth Horseman]

I'm not expert, but I've been reading on other forums that Ford gears stamped with an M are manufactured for Ford by Motive and that these seem to be more prone to whine.

Both of my 4.10 ring and pinion sets were not stamped with the M and both of mine have been perfectly quiet. Not saying that's proof, but it does seem to fit with the theory that's floating around.

[Blackened300a]

I get a slight whine when Im barely touching the throttle at cruising speed. If I let off or accelerate then I dont hear it. Its been almost two years since the install and it really don't bother me.

[burt ragio]

I have 4:10 ford racing gears installed by some one who installs gears regularly. Wayne's off Road in Barnstable Ma. They wein that's the nature of the beast just turn up the radio. There is always give & take.

[Fourth Horseman]

I have 4:10 ford racing gears installed by some one who installs gears regularly. Wayne's off Road in Barnstable Ma. They wein that's the nature of the beast just turn up the radio. There is always give & take.

With respect, I do not agree with this at all. I do not think it's just the nature of the beast and something you've just got to live with. Neither of my cars whine with the 4.10s, and believe me, I am a picky SOB about these things. If there were any odd noises I'd be b*tching to my installer about it.

[Bradley G]

three years and 45K with FMS 4:10's no whine. No traction either, call me peg leg.

[Local Boy]

No wine here...

If I understand correctly...Pinion Depth is CRITICAL, and needs to be spot on...to avoid wine...

ALOHA

[burt ragio]

This is good news. I never did like a whiney ass. I will have my gears checked. It would bring a smile if all I could hear is my motor.

[RF Overlord]

burt, I had mine installed at Fenner's Auto Shop, across from the Melody Tent. Scott and Ron do excellent work. The Blackbird is nice and quiet...not Town Car quiet, but I didn't expect that... :D

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

I have been through 3 sets of gears in my MM and am going on to my 4th, all Ford gears (some new OEM, some ford racing, all us made) and they all have whined to some extent. I have a Rotunda/OTC pinion depth tool and have also been checking the pattern to verify it and even with the pattern smack dead in the center drive/coast, I get noticeable whine above 50 mph, most noticeably at 55/65/75 harmonics.

Ford gears were made one of two ways (depending on when they were manufactured) -- face milling (each tooth is machined one at a time) and face hobbing (the machining process of the teeth is continuous, as the ring is rotated during machining).

Face hobbed gears will be stronger and have less transmitted noise than milled. As far as I'm aware, all of the aftermarket gears (Motive, Richmond, etc) are all milled gears, and will be inferior to the newer OE gears as far as noise goes.

I have been using the US made Ford OE face hobbed gears and still finding it impossible to eliminate all noise. The huge 3.5" diameter, 55"+ aluminum driveshaft in this car is basically a huge bell attached to your rear end. If the gears are not great quality and dead on you are probably going to hear them to some extent.

Price out the Ford racing gears ($169-200) vs OEM gears ($450+) and you can bet that the Ford racing gears, even the US made ones, are not machined and finished to the specs that the OE gears are. So the likelihood of having noisy Ford racing gears, just due to design and not improper setup, is there. Your gears may be set up perfectly and you are just going to have noise unless you change gears.

If you go on google and search "8.8 gear whine" you will find tons and tons of message boards w/ guys that have properly installed but noisy gears (and a lot of them are Ford racing). People are quick to blame the installer but the quality to which the gears are manufactured will play a big role in how quiet they run.

[fastblackmerc]

Using Ford Racing Parts gears in mine for the past 30K+ miles with no noise whatsoever.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Right. Every set is going to be different, and each axle housing will be machined to different tolerances that will make setup more or less difficult to get spot on. The cars that end up w/ gear noise are unlucky sometimes

[High-C]

Richmond 4.10s... NO whine whatsoever... :cool:

[ctrlraven]

There are many theories on the whine.. Some say it because the way gears are cut.. Now some of the ford gears are made by motive and of lower quality.. you can tell which they are by either a A or a M or G in the part number... The only person that I would love to ask this question to is a experience gear only shop... When I installed a set of Richmonds in a Ford 8 inch the instructions said to leave the car in the air and in gear at about 20MPH for 20 mins...

I bought Motive gears, is there a way to tell if I got a good set or not before I install them?

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

No. Even the Ford factory gears are sorted at the factory as to what machining tolerances they wound up meeting. There is no way for the end user to know for sure.

Motives are 3 pass face milled gears. I have read a lot of complaints about them on other message boards, as being a lot noisier than Ford OE. This doesn't mean that you won't end up with them being quiet, but they *might* not be. Then again I am supposedly using the higher quality OE gears and they are not quiet so who knows. One installer was telling customers he would not guarantee quiet gears w/ the new Motives.

It all depends, you don't really know until you install them. Hope for the best. I have Richmonds (supposedly the worst, I think they are a 2-pass face milled gear) in a Camaro and they are very very quiet.