Need to fix noisy ring and pinion.

[Don-T]

Last summer I paid a shop to rebuild the 12 bolt in my truck. It lasted about 30 miles and the pinoin was floping around like a fish out of water. I took it back to them to do it right. It seems all they did was retighten the pinion nut and call it good. It had gear noise. They pretty much told me to go away. That shop won't get any more of my money. I decided to take it apart and fix it myself. I put in new bearings and a Richmond ring and pinoin. I thought I had the pattern and backlash done correctly but it is making some noise on coast and deceleration. Since then I rebuilt the Dana 44 front axle and did get that one right, I have learned a lot thanks to Yukon instructions. So now I want to take the rear apart and do it right. I know I have the pinion way to deep into the ring gear, I need to remove shims and reset the backlash. My question is, can I redo the shims and backlash to get the pinoin depth right and get rid of the noise with the ring and pinoin I have? Is the ring and pinoin set giong to be noisy no matter what? Should I just put in a new ring and pinoin set?

 

[TotalyHucked]

I can't answer your specific questions but I know I've read online and also been told by my rearend guy that some gearsets are just noisy (in my case, Richmond's that are deeper than 3.73s are typically noisy). So don't be surprised if you can't get it completely silent. My 3.90 Richmonds have a very mild howl on decel sometimes

 

[Don-T]

I can't answer your specific questions but I know I've read online and also been told by my rearend guy that some gearsets are just noisy (in my case, Richmond's that are deeper than 3.73s are typically noisy). So don't be surprised if you can't get it completely silent. My 3.90 Richmonds have a very mild howl on decel sometimes

Thanks for the reply, I have heard that a time or two over the years. I have also heard a lot of shops use that excuse when they don't get it right. I have had people tell me it also depends how the gears are cut. The gears I have in the rear now are Richmond. If I buy a new set I will get Yukon.

 

[TotalyHucked]

My gear guy called me over and showed me the install/pattern and all before he buttoned it up for me, it was all spot on. I come from motorsports and my truck is a loud hotrod so a little gear whine didn't bother me.

 

[SquareRoot]

Swap in a NV4500 trans. It'll drown out the rearend noise.

 

[Don-T]

Well I have the rear end figured out. I decided to buy a Yukon ring and pinion set and put them in to replace the Richmond gears. I set it up with a good pattern and now I am happy with it. There is no more gear noise from anywhere in the truck.

Unfortunately I found out the hard way what a vibration has been in the truck. It felt a lot like the driveshaft angles were too far off. That was not it, the mechanical fan was off balance and I didn’t know it. The aluminum water pump housing shattered at 4,000 rpm and took out the accessory drive, fan shroud, and radiator.