Hey Guys, While I was at BG I bought a nice 64 Riv. When I tried the car out, I drove a short distance and at low speeds. I did not notice any thing unusual. When I strung out on the interstate on the way home after several miles I noticed a slight hum. Kind of high pitched. that seemed worse when I let off the throttle. I thought it was tire noise. By the time I got home it was no different. When I took the car out this morning, like the other day, when the car was cold the noise was barely there and then more noticable when warmed up. At first I thought maby the center driveshaft bearing was bad. But we put the car on a lift and I couldnt find any thing wrong with it. [visibly] Can the noise be adjusted out of it by changing the pinion depth???? Or am I just being paranoid here????? I drove the car at 65 and 70 mph for over a 125 miles and the noise level stayed basicly the same. I tend to think that if very much was wrong it would have gotten worse in that time and distance. o No:
Pull the cover and change the fluid. Might be nothing to worry about, but I would pull the inspection plate and change the fluid. Clean out all the gunk in the bottom and look for any warning signs. Drive it a while and keep an ear on it. If it aint broke dont fix it... Good Luck Bert
When off-throttle, you are on the "coast" side of the gears. So, what you describe is a wear pattern problem with the gear set. Best to have a pro take a look and he can tell by just looking at the gears if you need another set or rebuild the entire center section.
I drove my GS for ten years with the exact same noise at coast. Beat the snott out of it at the track and never had a problem! Had rear rebuilt last year and replaced the posi carrier. The original had a hole in the side of it! I attribute this to the previous owner who had changed the fluid and told me he had found that some of the bolts had fallen out of the carrier and were just bouncing around inside probably causing the hole and weird wear pattern causing the noise. However the original 3.42 gears showed no wear! I replaced them with 3.08 anyway. I wouldn't worry. If it breaks fix it!
I agreewith copperhead. I recently had a rear gone through. The builder told me that Richmond gears will work fineb but they will be noisy. So I bought US gear. But, if I had gears that were noisy, but it all worked well, I'd just turn the radio up & cruise. Keep an eye out for a deal on another whole rear. That is when you get the deals on stuff, when you don't really need it.
Nice advice if you want to gamble with your life. Let's see.....one day in the hospital is $500 min. You can rebuild your entire rear axle for that amount. I have seen personally where someone had some rear noise.....then the spider gear cross shaft came out, hit the pinion and locked the rear up causing the car to get sideways. After you wreck your car or have some unfortunate mishap..... you will be asking yourself ......$500 seems awfully cheap.
gear noise It does sound like the ring and pinion are off from each other on the set-up. Probably will be ok if it is not causeing any problems. Could even be a bearing on the pinion. Best to be safe and open it up clean it up with brake cleaner and inspect. Check the pattern spider gears bolts etc. for excessive wear and or looseness. push the pinion yoke up and down side to side check for excessive play again also if you have means to check the backlash do so with a dial indiactor. You can report back and let us know your finds and even send pics will try to help the best we can. Or you can just leave it and accept the consequences. Good luck either way. Jim
