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3.5 ring and pinion

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JAV

JAV

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Looking for a new ring and pinion set, but am told there are some issues with the current versions from AHspares. Anyone have any info on this and maybe on the DW set, which they say is better? Limpert set does not seem to be available anymore.
 
In my opinion you have about a 50/50 chance ( or less) of getting a quiet set of gears from any source. This is not to discourage you from getting the gears you want just to give you my experience. I have had more than one set from a few of the suppliers you have mentioned and having had them set up by the most expert of installers neither were as quiet as the original gears in the Healey. Sometimes when I am on the road I think to myself, " ah but to dream of the days when my rear end was quiet" . It just ain't so anymore.
 
Thanks, Maybe we're asking too much from modern machining compared to what was done 60 or so years ago with left over machines and metal from the war.
 
I really think the problem is in the quality of workmanship and tooling that is acceptable to some parts of the aftermarket. With the one set of gears I could almost tell that the tooling that was used was not up to snuff. It was either way past its operational life or way past any maintenance about it. The other set I believe was just poor attention to the work when they were cut. Evidently our aftermarket suppliers are unwilling to ensure better quality.
 
vette said:
In my opinion you have about a 50/50 chance ( or less) of getting a quiet set of gears from any source. This is not to discourage you from getting the gears you want just to give you my experience. I have had more than one set from a few of the suppliers you have mentioned and having had them set up by the most expert of installers neither were as quiet as the original gears in the Healey. Sometimes when I am on the road I think to myself, " ah but to dream of the days when my rear end was quiet" . It just ain't so anymore.
Click to expand...

Here's the secret to an ulta quiet set of long lasting gears. I've had this process done on the new 4.3 gears for my vintage racer and the 3.5 gears for my street Healey. No addition noise, just the sweet sound of the big six.

https://weddleindustries.com/services/house-rem-polishing-process-weddle-industries

REM Polished 4.3-1 Gears.jpg
 
Dougie, I believe you have something there. The extra processes such as what you have shown I believe certainly go along way towards solving the problem. Unfortunately I believe that the parts for things such as the Healey ring & pinion which we have been buying from the aftermarket fall way short of the finishing processes described here. Had I known this process, and I'm sure I would have if I'd of looked for it, would I have popped for the expenditure of the additional procedure or would I have done what is routinely done and taken it out of the box, given it a cursory cleaning and inspection and then installed them. Obviously & unfortunately what I did and my installer as well was the later.
 
OK, but can anyone say definitively what causes diff whine? I've always heard it attributed to either too much lash or improper pinion depth; and that 'final machining' is done during break-in (which requires a specific procedure to be done properly).
 
Bob, re ...... and that 'final machining' is done during break-in (which requires a specific procedure to be done properly).

I can't believe that the factory did any break-in work, either on the rear diff, as in this case, or anything else!
 
BBH said:
Bob, re ...... and that 'final machining' is done during break-in (which requires a specific procedure to be done properly).

I can't believe that the factory did any break-in work, either on the rear diff, as in this case, or anything else!
Click to expand...

I don't think the factory does, either. When I installed a Lempert ring and pinion in my BJ8 I had a specific break-in procedure to follow (not unlike bedding-in new brake pads: a series of longer and faster runs, followed by a cool-down period after each run and, finally, an oil change). New cars, to my knowledge, don't include break-in procedures for brakes or diffs, but typically have at least a minimal procedure for engines.
 
I have the 3.5 gears in both my BJ8s one was a Lempert set and the other came from somewhere I cant remember.
I installed them myself , set the gear mesh depth up using engineers blue and feeler gauges .
Never did any break in procedure etc etc , Ran them for one season and changed the oil that was it .
Both run fine both are quiet enough for me and the oil other than being slightly discoloured shows no metal particles .
i have had both units out of the cars for other work and inspected the wear pattern on the gears and it looks good to me .

Next they will be telling us if you replace the headlight bulbs you have to break them in by only using the headlights for short periods at dusk/dawn and allow cool down cycles before going out in full darkness blah blah blah blah blah ?
Its all smoke and mirrors perpetrated by the likes of companies producing so called “break in oils” etc .
 
Yep, I agree with you Healey Nut. I must say that the fact that mine whine some is annoying to me but it is not really excessive but definitely noisier than the original gears. The guy that set mine up is retired from a career on a NASCAR team and his main activity for many years was setting up Rear End Gears so I believe there were no faws in the installation. I can tell you that the first set we did came from a company across the pond and they were so noisy that I couldn't live with them. After trying every trick in the book to make them quieter I finally bought another set. The second set was tolerable.
 
vette said:
Dougie, I believe you have something there. The extra processes such as what you have shown I believe certainly go along way towards solving the problem. Unfortunately I believe that the parts for things such as the Healey ring & pinion which we have been buying from the aftermarket fall way short of the finishing processes described here. Had I known this process, and I'm sure I would have if I'd of looked for it, would I have popped for the expenditure of the additional procedure or would I have done what is routinely done and taken it out of the box, given it a cursory cleaning and inspection and then installed them. Obviously & unfortunately what I did and my installer as well was the later.
Click to expand...

IIRC, my Lempert gears were manufactured in the US and are as quiet as stock (setup by Fred Crowley) I wonder if the newly manufactured ones, as vette says, are made from inferior materials or machining.
 
I got one of the first (only?) Lempert* sets--it was $200!--and it's a little noisy, mostly when coasting. My dad and I set it up with an ancient slide micrometer, a HF dial indicator and other basic hand tools, so the install probably wasn't perfect, but it was a weekend job with my dad (and I cherish every minute).

* Mike considered building some exhaust systems to replace the old Ansa systems, but never did it unfortunately (I'm still using the Ansa pipes on my system I call 'Frankenmuffler').
 
I also bought a Lempert set. No gear noise whatsoever. Followed the break-in procedure and changed the oil at 600 miles.
 
I have the Austin Healey Spares gear set in my BN7, purchased probably four years ago. Lempert's weren't available at that time. I had the ring and pinion fitted to a spare rear end given me by a member of our club, St. Johns Austin Healey Club, Jacksonville, FL. The gears were assembled by Gear Works in Clearwater, FL. Took a bit of nagging and they replaced only the seals, not the bearings. This assembly was installed in my car at a club tech session--several members have lifts--and is absolutely silent in running. I think the change was well worth the money if you actually intend to drive the car, and I do that regularly.
 
I purchased one of the last of the Lempert sets a few years back but somewhere along the line, there was a set up issue and it whines. We had it temporarily installed about two years ago and it wasn't good, but figure we'll put the pumpkin back in next year and see how the car runs and how it sounds. Doug
 
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