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Whirring noises: recent re-gear related?

Creager

Explorer Addict
Joined
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Charlotte, NC
Year, Model & Trim Level
'92 Sport 4x4
Hey guys

I went 430 miles on my break-in period of my new gear set with out any noises. Today ive noticed a whirring noise that im suspecting to be comming from the rear end. It might not be, but this is the most recent thing ive done. It seems to start around 5mph where its really really quiet, at 25mph its at its loudest; it sounds like the destist when he drills your teeth. But around 25 it seems to quiet down, its hard to tell the tires drown out the sound. Its not really a howling, but a high-pitched whirrling/grinding.

Facts.

its been 430 miles since the gear install, really close to changing the diff fluid.

My backlash was .008 at install...

My pinion bearing preload was 26inlbs +-1inlb...

Remaned M5R1 installed less then 1500 miles ago...

I havent drove more then 10 miles since its started happening so i probably havent destoryed anything yet. According to Randy's ring and pinion my pinion bearing pre-load might have loosend up, or this might be normal as the bearings wear in; i would need to tear it down to tell. any ideas?
 



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I would do it real soon. When you added the "grinding" word in your discription that dosen't sound good at all. I never heard of a grinding sound when bearings are breaking in under normal conditions. Then again if the preload did back-off?

It may be coincidence, but don't overlook the axel bearings.
 






I have a noise in my rear only a deceleration (only from 0-45mph) -- but accerleration and everything is fine. What type of gears did you put in it? Mine are Richmond and mine are known for some noise. I would check your preload. Mine was 25 exactly! And I believe my backlash was in similar measurements. What kind of gear pattern did you get? Not too far down was it?

-Drew
 






heres a picture of my pattern at the install

attachment.php


I used motive gear. The set has been really quiet up until today.

i wish i didnt have to work today so i could tear it apart and find the culprit.

The Axle bearings are new. They are National brand?

Pinion bearings are Napa brand and Timken

the carrier bearings came with the truetrac, infact they were used for about 9 months.


The grinding is REALLY high-pitched. its kinda quiet to... and its accompanied buy a cupping noise that sounds like my Mutterrian tires slapping the road.

i did put new leveling springs, maybe its my tires wearing correctly now? haha ya right.
 






check your backlash again. Sounds like she could of settled in wrong.
 






ok so i went on a lil ride and did some tests.

The noise starts at 5mph. ends at 25mph. its very faint, and at times not very distintive, but its there... esspecially at 25 you cant miss it.

I put the truck on stands... i dont condone anyone doing what im about to say i just did.

I put the rear on stands... keeping the rear tires off the ground. I spun the tires, no noise... i spun the driveshaft, still no noise. from what i could tell without tearing apart the thing, the backlash seemed the same way i installed it... nice an tight.

So i decided to run the engine and let it turn the back wheels.

Then noise did not appear with the truck on the stands. I ran the truck to 25mph on the speedometer... no noise at all

So im even deeper into the dark now. I almost want to say the rear end is fine and my interesting noise isnt gear related. But i need to tear it down anyway. would a bearing in the rear end be causing this? or maybe one of my hubs/front wheel bearings are going.

welp gotta go to work, no more tinkerin for me today.
 






remember there is no strain on the rear with the tires off the ground. Rotate your tires and see if anything changes
 






Just an idea, can you put your sport on a lift...NOT JACK STANDS? Don't laugh, raise it up just high enough so all tires are off ground. Have someone start engine and put in gear. Yes I know there is no load on drive train. But maybe you can find source of noise, you might have to use a mechanics stethescope.
 






rookieshooter said:
Just an idea, can you put your sport on a lift...NOT JACK STANDS? Don't laugh, raise it up just high enough so all tires are off ground. Have someone start engine and put in gear. Yes I know there is no load on drive train. But maybe you can find source of noise, you might have to use a mechanics stethescope.

i dont necessarly have access to a lift, but im sure i can talk my way into using one hehe.


remember there is no strain on the rear with the tires off the ground. Rotate your tires and see if anything changes

I tried rotating them off the ground. No noise... its more then likley one of the bearings somewhere is on the way out or something.

funny enough, the noise is non-existant in reverse (?) Yeah i drove down the road accellerating to 25mph in reverse and coasting back down to 5 and the noise never appeared?

I drove to work this morrning. To my surprize the noise seems kind of intermittent. like it will go fine for so far, then it will come back. im going to see if i can talk to the guys at randy's ring and pinion.
 






I talked to the Tech at AccuAuto and he told me to just change the gear oil and make sure the noise doesnt get any louder. He said the oil probably is breaking down and making everything really hot, and since its around 500 miles it's probably that time.

Im going to try this, and if it doesnt clear up by tomorrow, i guess ill be tearing apart my rearend! haha
 






Creager said:
funny enough, the noise is non-existant in reverse (?) Yeah i drove down the road accellerating to 25mph in reverse and coasting back down to 5 and the noise never appeared?

What kind of gear lube did you use? Also, did you change the bearing race out as well or did you just throw the bearings on the old race? I don't understand why you used so many different bearings and even used bearings. I used Timken, and Timken only!

There are two different gear patterns. Forward/drive and then coast/reverse. The picture you showed above was only forward, there are two gear faces, you need to have a pattern of both.

-Drew
 






Creager said:
He said the oil probably is breaking down and making everything really hot, and since its around 500 miles it's probably that time.

Any gear manufacturer recommends changing the gear lube after 500 miles. I changed mine at around 450!

-Drew
 






ExplorerDMB said:
What kind of gear lube did you use? Also, did you change the bearing race out as well or did you just throw the bearings on the old race? I don't understand why you used so many different bearings and even used bearings. I used Timken, and Timken only!

There are two different gear patterns. Forward/drive and then coast/reverse. The picture you showed above was only forward, there are two gear faces, you need to have a pattern of both.

-Drew

Richmond 75w-140.

Yes i replaced all the races with Timken Races.

I had planned to use all Timken, as came in my install kit. But i destroyed the inner pinion bearing when i was pulling/pressing it, so i replaced it with the Napa Brand. Napa actually had the bearing under the same part number as the number printed on the timken bearing, so i figured they are probably the same just under different names.

The truetrac i had was 9months used, and already had (Timken) bearings pressed onto it. so i just used them. I do have a set of new Timken Carrier bearings still sitting in the box incase i do need to replace them

here are the pics of the coast side.
 

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