[spinn]

After a quick gear swap in a C10 8.5" diff . It was done at a trans shop. My 3.73 gears whine at 65mph. After returning it for a adjustment, they told me to contact richmond.

Richmond tells me that ,Yes , because the way their gears are cut 3.73+ ratios will whine.

This is news , my cuda has a 4.10 center section out of a 8.75 crysler, no whine at 3,500rpm . Is the 8.5" GM axle crap , and can not handle a gear ?

[ericnova72]

Don't ask me why, but I've seen it posted on other boards, and have experienced it myself - Richmond gears tend to be noisier than factory gears, or Auburn, Motive, Yukon, Strange. I have seen it posted a couple times where the explanation is Richmond gears are cut for strength at the expense of gear noise, compared to the others, but I don't know if this is true or not.

Is the whine at a constant speed, while going up in speed, or coasting down in speed??

My 4.56 Richmonds in an 8.5" have a slight whine an low load constant speed of about 50 mph. I've done 4.10 Yukons and Motives in the 8.5" and 8.8" Ford, along with Ford Motorsport 3.73's in the 8.8", none of those have made any noise. These among 4 dozen or so I've done in various rears.

I'm to the point now I only want Richmonds in race cars or if no other alternative is available. Prefer the Yukons, every set so far has set up nice and easy. No trouble with Motive either.

[302 Z28]

Richmond gears are not known for being quite, even Richmond tells you that.

Vince

[big gear head]

I've installed Richmond gears that were quiet and I've installed a few that had some noise in them. I've also installed a few Yukon, Motive, US Gear and some others that had some noise in them, but Richmond is much more likely to make noise than the others.

[spinn]

It seems to be fine, better to be tuff. If it is going to whine anyway, you should just do it yourself.

[SSedan64]

I've also read & heard this many times, the 3.73's seem to be the worst of Richmonds winers. Or maybe they're just the more popular ratio, so more complaints.

[lmsport]

The Richmond gears are made with less hypoid angle which makes them more mechanically efficient. They also tend to run hotter. When setup perfectly, many RG will make a little noise.

[Ohio Hab]

Spinn, I have an 1984 C-10, 8.5 with 3.73 gears also. I broke in the new axle assembly with Pennzoil gear lube and my gear also whined mostly when coasting above 35m.p.h. After the break in period, everything was new, I changed the gear lube and switched to Lucas GEAR LUBE, and much to my surprise the whine of the gear went away. I could not believe the noise went away. I decided to try the Lucas product mainly on the bottle they state about a that their gear lube cling's to the gear which I feel their product work's by my experience. I also choose Lucas for their sponsorship of Drag Racing in general, Good Luck, Ken

[S10xGN]

I've got a set of Richmond 3.50 gears in my '72 Maverick (9" locker) and they're not noisy at all. Of course the noise from the cammed LS-1 with Dynomax bullets and turn-downs may be masking it a bit... Seriously, the cabin is not all that loud and I've not heard any gear whine.

Russ

[tomslik]

Originally Posted by lmsport

The Richmond gears are made with less hypoid angle which makes them more mechanically efficient. They also tend to run hotter. When setup perfectly, many RG will make a little noise.

!?!?!?
heat comes from friction....
friction bad...

btw, i have not liked richmond gears for a long time because of the whine, worse w/graphite or solid bushings...