Shop says 5.29 gears are supposed to be noisy

Just got my truck back for the second time and I’m being told that my new 5.29 gears are going to be noisy cause of how small the gears are. I’m starting to have phantom howling all day now in my ears!

it only whines coast. I’m about 150 miles within my 500 mile break-in. They say to just wait 1000 miles in to swap them out if they continue to whine.

Can someone tell me that it’s true or I need to figure something out.

 

Doesn't pass the sniff test with me. I've noticed many shops that supposedly specialize in gearing always seem to fall back on the "wait until you've got more miles on it" excuse when they have no real answer.

Where are you located?

 

Tagged, curious also as I’m thinking of regearing.

 

Just got my regear done a few weeks ago and haven’t experienced any whine at all. They are the 5.29s from Sierra Gear and Axle. I had nitros on order and they got delayed indefinitely so canceled them and went to a reputable local shop who uses only Sierra.

 

I heard revolution gears is the quietest. I'm getting these in a couple months. They should quiet down a bit. Did you get them polished?

 

Sounds like a good excuse for a stereo upgrade. JK I've got around 20k on Nitro 529s and they have a very slight whine at times, nothing worth mentioning.

 

Shouldn’t whine.

unless you went with straight cut gears.

whine typically means they were not installed correctly

 

Sounds like they didn't fully check the pattern on the coast side before installing the diffs in your truck. The pinion is not making good contact on the coat side. that would cause a whine. its not normal at all. more (or less) shims are required. OR they overtightened the pinion crush sleeve.

 

My revolution 5.29s don't whine or make any more noise than stock. In the first 1000 miles there was a very slight noise increase at a certain RPM when coasting, but I wouldn't call it a whine or howling even and after the first oil change it went away.

 

From what I would say is one of the top tundra gear installers in the nation.
I did not have my gears installed by, Ken, but he was extremely helpful through the process when I had questions.

 

This ^^^

 

Those are the exact same one I got and they whine at coast!

 

Northern San Diego!

 

No polished. Wish I did. They said it didn’t need them.

 

Ya after it’s been warmed up, it will whine constantly at coast. The pattern is perfect they said. Nothing is off. Because they are such small gears, it will be whining even if they swap them out.

 

My shop said the polishing honestly only helps the break in period . I may do it because I have small kids and the truck is also our family rig so stopping every 20 min would be a circus.

 

Or get a dirty deeds exhaust they on sale now.

 

Pretty useful. I’ll consider that once I hit 500 miles.

 

Understood. I thought maybe you were in Az judging by your avatar. We have one of the most reputable and skilled drivetrains shops over in Mesa at Az Driveshaft and was going to recommend them for a 2nd opinion.

As a precaution I would document all communications if you haven't already. If they have to go in a 3rd time I would ask if they would be willing to duplicate the pattern and allow me to take a pic. Unlikely they would do it but possible if you're tactful. Keep us posted on the outcome. I hope it works out in your favor.

 

I've had Nitro 5.29s and a rear PowerTrax Grip Pro LSD installed for about 15k miles now. There is a slight whine (very slight, you wouldn't notice it unless I told you) upon decel. Has to do with backlash. As long as it's within spec and your whine is upon decel (coasting), you're fine. Whining on acceleration can be concerning. Nitro states their gears can be noisy so I was prepared for it. I haven't had any issues and I prematurely swapped the gear oil out to check for potential shavings when I was concerned about the whine (there were none fyi). I do a lot of towing and don't necessarily baby it when driving either.

 

Totally appreciate it! Thanks I guess the biggest question is,
- can I hurt anything inside while it’s whining?
- I ALSO had them install an Eaton E-Locker with it. Can I hurt that to?
- will the whining most likely go away after the 500 mile oil flush?
- can the gears last forever like this?
- Last question, HOW THE HELL DO I BREAK IN THE FRONT GEARS AND WHEN DO I DO A OIL FLUSH IN THE FRONT?

thanks y’all!

 

Az Driveshaft did my Quaife in my 350Z after a local shop messed the install up, they do great work!

 

Thanks for the info bro!! Did you ever hit highways during your break in and if so, how fast were you coasting? My whining is noticeable at coasting for sure.

 

Yeah I did. I would just change my speed every couple of miles and fluctuate between 50 and 60mph periodically if I was forced to be on the highway. It was a brutal 500 miles but the gears need to experience different speeds and heat cycles to mesh correctly. You'll have nice silky metallic shaving-esque gear oil to change afterwards. I swapped the gear oil again about 8k miles after 500 mile swap....it was as clean/clear as can be. My whining never has and probably never will go away but the gears look perfect and function as needed. It really is a very faint noise...with our shit stereo system on volume 10 you cannot hear the whine.

 

Thanks again! This is the most I’ve been helped with this. Thanks guys. Ya I’m at 170 miles in and been coasting between 50-60 mph on highways for only max 3-5 miles and off on the back roads. I can only hear it when windows are up and music is off but so damn annoying lol!!

They did say at 1000 miles if I still hear it and it’s that annoying, they will honor the warranty and do everything brand new again for free.

how did you do the front diff break in and oil swap?

 

Haha! Another testimonial to their impeccable work here. I'm not surprised, they've earned their reputation.

 

Yeah it was annoying/concerning at first but now I don't hear it lol. It's there...I'm just used to it. That's nice they're offering to redo them if need be. I had mine done at a drag race shop. Dude swaps gears and installs LSDs in pro-mod/funny stock cars so I trust his work and he said the same about the slight whine on tall gears like this sometimes happening (more noticeable with Nitro gears than any other). Showed me the markings and everything was in spec with backlash so I was good with it.

For the front, nothing special was done. I ran in 4x4 down a dirt road for a couple miles here and there at low speeds...that's it. It wasn't a "recommended" practice for the Nitro break-in, but I've always had regeared vehicles so I've done quite a few break-ins so I just always do it (first experience with Nitros though, I came from the Jeep world where Yukons are almost always the preferred choice). The front gearing will never reach high enough operating temps unless you're prerunning dunes at 55+ MPH for extended periods of time (which isn't recommended to begin with for your 4x4 system lol). That little bit, coupled with the regular break-in procedure, produced a similar silky metal-shaving/phosphorus coating filled gear oil.

 

I had REM and cryo'd nitro 5.29s, it was done by Ken/Zuk, during first 2000km it was on Toyota fluid, very quiet and rarely any whine, when it did it was from decel/coasting at around 90kmh (55mph)

As soon as I switch to nitro fluid, the whine is definitely louder from decel/coasting, I'm going back to Toyota fluid.

 

Done by Zuk.......you know it was done right!

 

If the rear window is down, think I hear a tiny bit of whine on deceleration at low speeds, like 30 mph or less. Won’t lie, sounds kinda cool, like driving old HD dump truck. Have to use non-synthetic because of the Grip-Pro, probably be silent with synthetic. Zuk porn, gears done right.