How noisy should SM465 and 4speed tcase be ?

[logic2]

How noisy should SM465 and 3speed tcase be ?

I have my rig (73 FJ40) on the road. Just finished a total restore and I'm 99% done. Here's the breakdown:
5.3 Vortec with SM465 and a 3-Speed Toyota Tcase (Fresh rebuild by Texican).
Front/Rear axle 3.70 ratio

When cruising higher than 10MPH the tcase/tranny emits a high-pitched whining sound. You can hear the teeth meshing and gnashing but the person sitting next to you. Crawling on a trail in 4-Low would not be a problem, but on the road at 50-70 it becomes an issue.

1.) Is this loud whining sound coming from tranny-tcase normal ?
2.) If I swap in a 5-Speed with split tcase, will this situation improve ?
3.) Any other suggestions to lower the noise ?

Thanks for any info ?

 

[fussy_cruiser]

I roll w/out the top and doors in the summer and my SM465/stock t-case is pretty noisy.

I have a rubber mat and in the winter I put a sound-deadner/heat insulation mat under it, when I put the top and doors on.

That cuts down the noise pretty good.

In the summer, I just consider the tranny whine, mud tires roaring on the asphalt, and wind noise part of the charm.

That said, there is tranny WHINE noise and tranny BREAK noise, have someone else ride along and listen.

edit: Nice cruiser, BTW!

 

[jrcrawly]

My sm465 is whinny too. Second gear is bad and also when I let off the gas in any gear. Lots of padding on the floor helps, as do ear plugs.

 

[Tankota]

Mine was that way when I had it and a 4spd tcase. At 75 mph it was really loud. Only a whine...not a bearing grinding type noise though. You could try some thicker oil...like 140. Seemed to quiet mine down a tiny bit...barely enough to notice though. Earplugs helped.

 

[jcj_78FJ40]

Mine w/the stock 3spd case is pretty loud but then again, so was the stock 4 speed and 4 speed TC

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Good looking Cruiser.

I think the 3 speed cases whine by nature. The 465 will have a little more gear whine than a Land Cruiser 4 speed. It has really, really big gears and big support bearings.

My guess is, it's all normal.

An H55f/Split case is pretty quiet.

 

[logic2]

Well I guess that's good news in a way...knowing that it's normal.
I may be looking at swapping in a 5-Speed or Turbo 350 to go behind the LS1 (5.3 Vortec).
Anyway.... Thanks for the info

 

[smf]

My noise level went way down when I switched from synthetic back to conventional gear oil. Huge difference on the highway and at cruising speed.

 

[1973Guppie]

Hey there, I had the same issues with my nv4500 setup and stock 3spd tcase. From what I can gather and the research I have done, 2 things have caused that high speed whine (I know exactly what you are talking about).

- it's a 3spd case, their loud as hell and they whine like a bitch.

- when I had the tcase rebuild, it was done with good used gears and new gears. I am fairly certain that the teeth meshing of the new and used gears when it was freshly rebuilt caused this.

FWIW, I would guess most of your noise is coming from that 3spd stock case. I was worried about it for awhile and then after getting about 5k on the odometer, the noise settled down A LOT. Now it is not that noisy at all. I would run it for awhile and see if the noise dies down after some time. You may also want to pull the oil after a bit and look for any large shavings or chunks. Some metal is normal, especially when the tcase is breaking in.

HTH, Noah

 

[Cruiserdrew]

And higher viscosity gear oil will quiet the whine a bit too.

 

[dargreg]

My sm465 was whineing like yours it really wasn,t normal gear meshing.Took it apart and the needle bearings in the input shaft were gone,it required a new shaft and needle bearings.End of problem.Did you have your trans looked at before you installed it this is quite common for high milage 420&465s.