Advice on noisy transmission

Tony Hillyard

Tony Hillyard

Senior Member
Good evening all,

I have a 1928 standard roadster. I have replaced all the transmission bearings with new ones but she still whines like hell in first and second. I know I need to by all new gears etc. but just at the moment that is not an option. Here in France you cannot buy 900w gear oil (they have never heard of it) and it cannot be shipped from the US, for some reason. Any suggestions please on how to keep the noise down. STP, another oil additive, some secret home brew?

You advice and suggestions would be much appreciated.
 
Tony,

They have straight cut gears that will whine a little in first and second when compared with later cars ('32 and up). Try driving another one for comparison.

Charlie Stephens
 
Thanks for that Charlie, I also a 1928 Modal A Tudor Sedan, same age, she drives like a dream, no transmission noise at all, so I am a bit baffled.

Odd, don't you think!
 
what about bearing grease?

(I'll probably get shot for making the suggestion.........)

anyone have a blindfold?
 
if the teeth on gears are badly pitted, it will sound like a cat fight. but if that is the cause it may go for quite a while
 
When replacing bearings in a transmission that appears to have serviceable gears, one area that is often overlooked is the bearing race on the front end of the main shaft. If the race area appears to be worn and galled, the shaft should be replaced or re-sleeved. A worn main shaft race can create noise in first and second gear. When in high the input shaft and the main shaft are locked together and there is no rotation of the roller bearing on the main shaft race.

Tom Endy
 
Thanks forever4, 250w is also impossible to find here in Europe. They seem to have changed the way they mark up oils now a days. The nearest I could by here is what they call 140W as used in modern tractors.

I tried that..... noisy whine in first and second. I tried mixing 20% grease with it Ronn (having read some of the posts on the subject,) same whine.

When I fitted the new bearings in the transmission a looked very carefully at all the bearing surfaces Tom (Endy). They all looked good to me. So I'm a bit stumped.
 
When you put in new bearings the gear teeth hit in a little different place. I would try driving it for a while, it may get better. If it does not you may have to put in new gears.
 
what condition are the teeth in? if they are upset (meaning not square anymore) from people clashing and grinding gears over the years that can cause noise too.
 
Marco Tahtaras posted these 600W equivalents a couple of years as go. I hope you can find something.

600W EQUIVALENTS per Marco T
600W is ISO 460 non-EP gear lube
MOBILE Mobilgear 600 XP 680
*BP. Energol GR XP 680
CASTROL Castellated$ Alpha 15680 LS680
SHELL* Omala 680
TEXACO. Meropa 680
AMSOIL ISO 460. = SAE 139
 
Thanks to everyone. I will look through all that. Good idea about driving her for a while George.

The teeth looked nice and square SeaSlug, so I don't know.

That is a very helpful list Bruce.

Thank all again. Tony
 
As Tom said in #8 that bearing can make a lot of racket. My ****** looked NOS on every part, except for a couple bad rollers on that bearing. It made the ****** sound like a broken down threshing machine in first and second gear.

Do you have any pictures of the gear teeth? If you remove the top cover, then would be a good time to take and post pictures of the gear teeth. A mix of 140 gear oil and STP should work well for the ******.
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
As Tom said in #8 that bearing can make a lot of racket. My ****** looked NOS on every part, except for a couple bad rollers on that bearing. It made the ****** sound like a broken down threshing machine in first and second gear.

Do you have any pictures of the gear teeth? If you remove the top cover, then would be a good time to take and post pictures of the gear teeth. A mix of 140 gear oil and STP should work well for the ******.
Click to expand...

This bearing can only be inspected when the transmission is disassembled. Like Tom, my transmission looked perfect but was noisy. Upon disassembly I found a number of the bearing rollers broken free of the retainer and significant galling of the bearing surface inside the input shaft. A real mess and expensive to replace the shafts.
 
Thank you all for your input. I think I know which way to go now.

Thanks a lot for the address in Holland Gerald 1961. That will be really useful. The cost of shipping parts from the US has been killing me. Then on top the custom duty! That is a real treasure.
 
All the oils listed by Bruce are available in UK . I am surprised they are not available in France . I use Shell Omala 680 it works fine .

John in sunny morning Suffolk County England
 
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Hi Tony I will be in sunny Chandler AZ Dec through Feb ( sunny xmas!!! ) I live right next door to Sammy Guthrie (Arizona Model A ) let me know what you want.

John in sunny Suffolk County England .

PS while we are still in EU no customs duty me to you only postage .
 
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