5-Rib 002 Whine...ideas?

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DugB
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5-Rib 002 Whine...ideas?

Post by DugB » Sat Mar 18, 2017 7:17 pm

Hello all (and Colin),

I'm trying to get the inside of my '75 camper as noise-free as possible (Colin's suggestion last year to go with the stock muffler over my Vintage Speed one helped s lot) but the other noise I have is a whine from the tranny, in all gears, that might be resonating into the cabin from the shift rod.

All of my shift rod bushings are new/intact, as is my coupler. I was the one who installed the engine and transmission and I didn't follow much of a process for fine tuning the position after it was installed on the engine/tranny mounts.

I thought I had seen a thread on IAC where Colin suggested loosening the front tranny attachment point and moving the tranny front up or down slightly to relieve stress on the shift rod, but now I can't find that thread :-/ In general, could any small adjustment of the mustache bar end mounts, of the tranny mounts, eliminate whine?

Thanks!
- Doug :-)
Falls Church, VA

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Amskeptic
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Re: 5-Rib 002 Whine...ideas?

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Mar 19, 2017 10:04 pm

DugB wrote:
Sat Mar 18, 2017 7:17 pm
Hello all (and Colin),

I'm trying to get the inside of my '75 camper as noise-free as possible (Colin's suggestion last year to go with the stock muffler over my Vintage Speed one helped s lot) but the other noise I have is a whine from the tranny, in all gears, that might be resonating into the cabin from the shift rod.

All of my shift rod bushings are new/intact, as is my coupler. I was the one who installed the engine and transmission and I didn't follow much of a process for fine tuning the position after it was installed on the engine/tranny mounts.

I thought I had seen a thread on IAC where Colin suggested loosening the front tranny attachment point and moving the tranny front up or down slightly to relieve stress on the shift rod, but now I can't find that thread :-/ In general, could any small adjustment of the mustache bar end mounts, of the tranny mounts, eliminate whine?

Thanks!
- Doug :-)
Falls Church, VA

Do you get this noise or reverberation at idle? There are two 17mm NUTS not bolts that hold the nose cone mount to the transaxle. Usually, you need to remove the big plate with the 17mm BOLTS going up into the torsion tube to gain access to the two nuts that allow you to slide the transaxle up or down a little. BUT, when you remove the big plate, you lose all support there and are totally guessing which way to go. Fine.

Before you loosen anything, see if you can bench press the transaxle up a little and determine if you free up the shift rod in the main shift tube or jam up the shift rod in the tube. If the gear shift is resting heavily on the bottom of the tube, you need to move the nose cone mount DOWN in relation to the transaxle, then tighten the 17mm nuts. As you reinstall the 17mm bolts under the big plate, it will suck the transaxle up further than it was before. You'll see.

I can't remember if yours is a '72, but VW did a fine screw up there for a few years where they had unusually noisy transaxles in some cars. My squareback has one. They changed synchronizer designs and they changed the number of teeth (whilst maintaining the same ratios) in each gear set to quiet things down.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

DugB
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Re: 5-Rib 002 Whine...ideas?

Post by DugB » Mon Mar 20, 2017 7:26 am

Hi Colin,

No, at idle is pretty much just the purr/rumble from the engine resonating inside the cabin. When it's moving, though, it's almost like the transmission is solid mounted to the car and therefore the whine from the tranny is able to resonate through the body. You definitely notice it at higher revs in pretty much any gear, but I'll have to see if I hear it, say, coasting down a hill in neutral. Mine's a '75, and this 5-rib 002 pyramid tranny is a Rancho rebuild that I've had for about 4 years and 40K miles, and it's been like this (but also trouble-free) since day 1. That makes me think that it's just the sound this tranny makes, but I also hadn't done anything in particular to align the tranny/engine in any way.

I'll try the tranny bench press you suggested to see if that frees up the shift rod any...thanks!

BTW let me know if you need a place to crash when you're in the area this spring! I don't have any maintenance or major projects to accomplish this time but would love to catch up :-)

- Doug :-)

DugB
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Re: 5-Rib 002 Whine...ideas?

Post by DugB » Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:13 pm

Just a follow up...yesterday I did a test at speed, and the whine/groan resonating through the car happens when in gear (without my foot on the clutch), but not nearly as much when I'm coasting on the highway (gearshift in neutral, no foot on the clutch).

I'm going to try the "benchpress" as soon as I can...

- Doug :-)

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Amskeptic
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Re: 5-Rib 002 Whine...ideas?

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Mar 31, 2017 9:55 pm

DugB wrote:
Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:13 pm
Just a follow up...yesterday I did a test at speed, and the whine/groan resonating through the car happens when in gear (without my foot on the clutch), but not nearly as much when I'm coasting on the highway (gearshift in neutral, no foot on the clutch).

I'm going to try the "benchpress" as soon as I can...

- Doug :-)
You have a 5 year warranty on Rancho transaxles. Did I read correctly that the noise is most noticeable while coasting in neutral? wth?
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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