richmond gears

[terrylittlejohn]

just installed a 4.10 gearset in a GM 10bolt axle, trans am for a friend, backlash set at .007 and contact pattern smooth and across the gear tooth face about 3/16in up from bottom of tooth,with 2lbs load on pinion after torquing nut to 90ftlbs and new sleeve, with stock shim the pattern was on the heel of the gear tooth, so i put 4 of the thinner shims (.040)+stock shim to get the pattern centered, so then i had to keep 1 stock carrier shim and 1 thick and 3 thin shim from kit on right side and 2 thick shim from kit and remove stock shim altogether. everything went together well but test drive has gear noise like a axle in a 1 1/4 ton truck. searched the site and it seems this is a common theme with richmond gears, is there any fix, can the contact pattern be moved in or out from center to lessin the noise or do you have to live with it?

[skids72]

I'm no good at setting gears myself but I know there's a bunch on here know what they're doing... sounds to me you went about it right... but I am running the Richmond's (4.56 in a 12-bolt) and don't have any howl... they are good gears

-Chris

[shawnlee28]

I would do the entire check list over again,check backlash ,rear cap torque,...etc....
I remember the pinion bearing preload ,rotational force setting was in inch pounds on mine.......
I remember the crush sleeve torque was not a set number ,it was what it took to make the pinion rotational inch pound setting ,not a set number....

[jerry clayton]

Sometimes GEAR noise comes from other places--especially in Firebird/Camaros----I have seen several times where the exhaust has been changed to something that lays on a rear end or suspension component and then the torgue arm transmits the noise up to the trans/parking brake area of the floor--- this is especially prevalent on the larger ( 3 or 4 in ) exhaust or TRUE duals----

[terrylittlejohn]

i did do all my measurement with old bearings that were reamed out so they could be slipped on and off to get the right shim #`s on the pinion, then when all the measurements were good i pressed the new bearings in place, the pinion load just came out to be 90lbs , i worked my way up to that # starting at 60lbs which was 0 load and no end play. i am concerned because most gear replacements i have done were stock gears 3.23 to 4.88 chyslers rearends, the last one i done was a 8.8 mustang that i help a fellow racer with they were 4.10 gears and everything was by the book and the noise never left the rearend but he has been racing it for 3yrs now,so i am just wondering is the engagement pattern between the ring and pinion can be moved off center to try and lessen the noise, i have go and check it out and test drive the car for myself ,if anyboby has any other suggestion firer away , thanks

[terrylittlejohn]

just back from checking the rear end , i didn`t remover the cover put removed the drive shaft and rotated the pinion, the backlash felt good but the pinion had a hard feel to it not like when i installed it, smooth even turning, so i back of the nut and re-torque it to 75lbs ( down from 90lbs) it felt smoother turning and on a test run the noise was noticeable lessened. i know the the crush sleeve should be replaced but how close do you have to be to the drag#`s on the pinion, is it better to be under the 20-25inlbs? i set it at 24inlbs which was at 90ftlbs when i started.

[jerry clayton]

Something is wrong about the torque your using to set the pinion preload---it should take between 300-400 ft lbs to collapse the crush sleeve to the preload numbers--

You also can't check pinion preload with the diff carrier installed or axles and brakes

Check out Randy's ring and pinion site (www.ringpinion.com) he has two sections on rear end noises and what causes them

Jerry

[shawnlee28]

My old and new bearing were 2 different sizes ,meaning the honed out bearing gave a different backlash and pinion depth than the new one needed...........and it takes alot of torque to crush that sleeve...alot.

[terrylittlejohn]

will this must be the wrong crush sleeve, i know from all the chysler `s i have done mostly 8 3/4`s , you use around 170ftlbs and the 8 1/4`s you end up with 120 ftlbs, if the prober drag i seen on the pinion at such low torque # then the bearings must be bottoming in the races before the sleeve is being loaded,i know if i put 300ftbls on this setup the pinion will bind the bearings and not move at all.

[terrylittlejohn]

went thought the rear-end yesterday, everything looked good the backlash and the contact pattern, this being the first chevy rearend i have done i called a few local racer and got there thoughts, so i pulled it all apart , removed all the shims from pinion and placed a stock .036in shim under the new bearing when i install it you could feel that it was making contact on the crush sleeve it took 150ftlbs just to take the slack it the bearings, so i then used a breaker bar and got the 24inlbs it needed,when i install the ring carrier i had to move 2 thin shim from the right to the left , i couldn`t get the pattern on center front to back but it was close,the rearend is smooth and quiet now so it must have been the pinion was to deep even though the pattern looked good.