Roverdrive whine

[aolesnicky]

Hi everyone
Recently bought a SIII SWB with the 2.25 petrol motor. Great little truck. I wanted an overdirve and spent a bit of time looking online before I decided to go with the roverdrive SX unit as everything I read suggested others were very noisy. It fitted up ok and seems to work fine but boy is it loud. It whines like straight cut gears at anything above 40kmph and it gets louder and higher with road speed. It also whines on the overrun but not so much at light throttle. I suspect it is the noise of the new overdrive output gear meshing with the old TF case intermediate / idler gear. I have looked at some info on www who reckon it'll settle down in 5-10k km and the guy who I bought it off reckons it might too. There also seems to be more backlash feel in the whole drivetrain on changing from throttle to overrun as when changing gears etc and it sounds quite a bit clunckier than before.
My aim was to reduce noise but at 60kmph this is defiinately louder than the old 4th gear non-OD with engine noise and transmission etc at 90mph. It has done all of 20km since installed. Anyone have the same problem. Does anyone think changing the idler for a new one would help. Can anyone reassure me that this is normal and expected and it does settle down. Is the clunckiness normal for a new roverdrive?
thankd for replies

[will d8r]

My one is real quite always has been It brought it new went into a SWB S3 old trans case ,only problem I had was it leaked where it joined the trans case I threw the gasket away glued it on been good ever since did put a breather on it. Is the oil level ok. I use mobil 90/140 grade.I sit on a 100k & can still hear the wife.
Cheers

[aolesnicky]

I am using 75/90 as specified in the fitting instructions but I think Ill try a heavier oil. When i fitted the man shaft coupler I had to tap it on with a wooden drift as it didnt slide on smoothly like the rear gbox gear slid off. I didnt have to belt it just a gentle tap with a small block of wood so I imagine it is centrally located. When I had to fit the overdrive unit fornt section and then rear section I had to knock them on a bit too with a bit of a tap as I couldnt get them to slide on smoothly. It all turned over by hand but I wonder of it could be a bot put of line. I notie there are no locating pins to locate the overdrive to the rear of the transfer case PTO aperture just the six bolts. Could a slight misalingnemnt of either the coupling gear or the overdirve unit cause this horrible whine.
Thank you for you replies

[series3]

.I sit on a 100k & can still hear the wife.
Cheers

Pour some gravel into the overdrive and transfer case, Should solve the problem.

Sam

[solomondogs1]

I've just installed a Roverdrive albiet on a 110 TD5, but the whine when first driving away was something else especially on overrun, thought I had a cat and gravel caught up under there. That coupled with a pretty impressive oil leak coming from where the actuator arm enters the overdrive casing hasn't impressed me much, although the suppliers are going to fit another brand new unit this wednesday.

Incidentally, the whine has almost completely gone after about 150 miles, but its still chugging out oil at a fair old rate...

[aolesnicky]

Update on the whine
Had the opportunity to pull the OD the other day and showed it to a machinist / mechanically minded friend. He reckoned the large helical output gear on my particular example was cut very poorly. All the internal gearing looked good but he said the teeth on the big gear appeared to be very rough along the whole length (not just the bit that had engaged with the intermediate gear for the last 500kms) He cleaned it up by hand with a hone and this has quietened it down a fair bit and reckons it may well wear in with he intermediate gear in a few 1000kms. I imaigne itll take a bit longer or the backs of the gear teeth to wear in fromoverrun and still get an embarassingly high whine when slowing down. For the price though he was disappointed (for me). He also pointed out that the overdrive unit is assembled with no name chinese bearings. While my landie now sits on 100km comfortaly and 110km/hr at a pinch on the flat I would still say there is a hell of a lot more noise since it was fitted (even at 80) and I am on the whole disappointed with the purchase. Best advice I could find on this forum was some noise canceling headphones and an ipod on modest volume for long distances.
thanks

[will d8r]

Is it a Rocky Mountain roverdrive. Hopefully they are not made in some other country hence the poor quality. I am or was thinking about another one for no 2 S3. May be high speed trans is a better option.Cheers

[chazza]

Update on the whine
Had the opportunity to pull the OD the other day and showed it to a machinist / mechanically minded friend. He reckoned the large helical output gear on my particular example was cut very poorly.

Have you contacted the manufacturer/supplier? For the money they cost, in my opinion, what you have is unacceptable.

Earlier you mentioned the 6 mounting bolts with no dowels. I once changed the headstock bearings on an engine re-boring machine and it made a dreadful whine, until we loosened the bolts and tapped it around a bit,

Cheers Charlie

[waughloch]

I have just fitted one to my SIII and it screams and wines like Tasmanian Devil! Has yours quietened down much? I see you fitted it a few months ago has it improved? Did a heavier grade oil help much. Any info would be much appreciated thanks.

[ThorneGator]

Add another one to the tally. Only difference is that mine is on a 110 (TD5). Same, whines especially on overrun! I have had it on my vehicle for almost 15k kms, though I would say only about 3-5k of those would have been with the overdrive engaged. I have videoed it and will be sending the video to the Ray, the manufacturer to see what he says. Though the audio is not great, you can hear the whine, just imagine it much louder in person: YouTube (https://youtu.be/WIaS1Qv-U14)

Has anyone had any improvement with a heavier oil? or any other recommendations? I don't know if I trust myself to file down the teeth on the large gear as mentioned though.

[Busted Syncro]

G'day All,

Just re-read the thread and can report that when I fitted the roamer drive on my 2a 1966 in 2006 there was no excessive whine. When engaged at 80Km the noise level reduced so that you could have a normal conversation.

Very important to use a GL4 fully synthetic oil in the transfer box and O/D. I use Castrol Syntrans 75/85 GL4.

When installing the OD make sure the input gear of the O/D has clearance to the rear main shaft oil seal. I used a Viton 5/16" wide seal to get a clearance.

Chris

[Johnno1969]

........the old 4th gear non-OD with engine noise and transmission etc at 90mph.


90mph??????