I have a problem with my torque tube rear end.... I just did a ring and pinion swap in my 50 chevy, its a stock torque tube with a 3.55 ring and pinion now... it was a 4.11 before, now i took it for a test drive and it powered up great, on the test run though about a 1/4 mile down the road i get off the throttle and clutch it ready to down shift and turn left, then there was a almost grinding howling sound, now i know this could be in adjustment of the rearend, but the odd thing is , it runs and sounds fine while under power of the engine, but when i get off the throtle and coast it starts the sound, from inside the car it almost sounds like a tire rubbingt on the inner wheel wells, but thats not the case,,,, any ideas on what i might have done wrong? My first thought was the adjustment was off in the pumpkin, but, i was thinking that if its only when it coasts, could it be the 3 bolt adjustment that sets the forward pinion bearing inside the torque tube? any ideas or help is greatly appreciated.
Almost positive that the pinion / ring gear pattern is incorrect. Take it down, check backlash between pinion & gear at the heel of the ring gear tooth and perpendicular to the tooth surface. Clean the unit up and paint the teeth up with a gear tooth marking compond by rotating the pinion while applying a load to the gear teeth. Since you won't be able to apply a load as heavy as there will be in actual use, position the observed gear tooth pattern to be towards the toe of the tooth and pretty well centered between the top & root of the tooth be making adjustments. Make sure the proper preload and backlash are maintained after adjustment. BTW, I assume the pinion & gear are a mated set from the manufacturer and not individual parts you scored from various sources - correct? If any of the above sounds like Greek to you, beg, borrow or buy the proper manuals and study them. In lieu of that, find a local axle expert and let him set it up for you. Doesn't take a whole lot of mismatch in a set of gears to ruin them in a VERY short time. I guess there's an outside chance the gear set was manufactured incorrectly, especially if it's an off shore manufacturer. If you get the backlash, preload & pattern on the drive side looking good and the coast side is poor (or vice versa), they've been made wrong. PM me if you need any more info. -Bob
i think you put the center bearing perload sleve i back wards there are three bolts that are tapered that when you tighten them down it pushes the pinion in place it you have it in back wards it will load but it will unload when you let of the gas also dont forget to put the depth shim under the pinion before you put the bearing on and thghten the nut down and put the roll pin in hope this helps. Clay >>
hey thanks guys, i got her fixed today, i did have the sleve out of place in the rear, and i just had some readjusting to do on the ring and pinion..... hey thanks for the help!!!
I have a 1950 chevy truck that I want to keep as original as possible. I want to swap the 4:11 ring and pinion out for another set but cant find where to get them. any help would be appreciated. scott