Overdrive-induced deafness. Cures??

[Johnno1969]

Hey folks,

After twelve years of Fairey/Superwinch overdrive ownership, I have finally had enough and want to make it quieter.....

It's in pretty good condition (only had it apart to strip and check it a few months ago) but it drowns out the noise of the lovely little 2.25 diesel in my IIA. The main gearbox is in good nick, so is the transfer. Everything is as quiet as a mouse (well a diesel-powered mouse) until I engage the overdrive and then "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I have smothered my vehicle's transmission area with about three feet of soundproofing.......and still I can hear it. It's a bit like and Egdar Allen Poe story.

Anyway, to make a short story long, I am thinking of trying some sort of additive to the oil (Slick 50, Nulon, redline, banana skins, sawdust, clotted cream) and I am interested in people's thoughts. I hear and read such widely-differing views on additives. Basically, if there is anything out there that can coat the wearing surfaces, reduce friction and not cause other problems (she's a very reliable little car and I want her to stay that way) I'm all ears (though you may have to shout).

Cheers!

John

[HBWC]

WHAT WAS THAT????

have you thought about purchesing a set of ear muffs
not sure about diffrent oils but found overdrives are noisiy

[rangieman]

How about a pair of early 10 spline rangie diffs
Rangie ratio # 3.54
series ratio # 4.7
do the maths

[JDNSW]

I doubt whether you can get any additives that will help without damage to the overdrive. One thing you might look at is to ensure that no part of the operating linkage is touching the floor or transmission tunnel.

I have similar problems, and in my view the actual gearsets in the overdrive need to be replaced - they are not likely to fail, but are noisy due to tooth wear. Having priced replacements, I am putting up with the noise, although in general I do not use the overdrive except at around 100kph when the wind noise largely drowns it.

One idea I have thought about, but not tried would be a jacket tailored to fit round the actual overdrive with a layer of padding and a layer of sheet lead. I am not sure this would be very effective, as the noise will be transmitted fairly effectively to the transfer case housing, which is probably radiating a lot of the noise.

John

[Lotz-A-Landies]

How about a pair of early 10 spline rangie diffs
Rangie ratio # 3.54
series ratio # 4.7
do the maths

And remember with 3.54:1 diffs you move your current low ratio to only 75.32% of what it was (do the maths), so you are less capable off the road.

Hey folks,

After twelve years of Fairey/Superwinch overdrive ownership, I have finally had enough and want to make it quieter.....

In addition to what JD says about linkages touching panels and a subject he mentioned "gear noise". It is important that the OD box runs full of oil.

If yours is one of the ones that doesn't have the window in the top of the output shaft housing with the Archimedes screw then you can do a modification to re-circulate the oil with the transfer box.

A a small funnel is placed with the open top about 1" from the top of the T/F case. The bottom of the funnel is connected through a hole in the back face of the T/F box to a pipe which connects to a fitting on the side of the OD at the same level as the filler. You may also want to seal the breather hole in the top of the OD and remove the oil seal between the inner and outer concentric shafts, (part 51 I seem to remember). Then what happens is that the oil splashing around the T/F case gets caught in the funnel, gravity and more oil forces the oil along the pipe into the O/D filling the box. The oil in the overfull O/D box, forces it's way around the inner input shaft, past the needle roller bearings and back into the T/F case.

The new circulation of oil, keeps the O/D box full, ensures everything gets lubricated and not running dry, the oil in the O/D is cooler because it spends less time in the O/D gearset, reducing both noise and gear wear (a major cause of noise). The later LT95 Fairey O/D have a similar circulation built in.

[Johnno1969]

Thanks for that,

All very interesting. I like the idea of recirculating oil....will look into it, but I never let the thing go dry anyway. It wouldn't reduce noise as things stand. Or would it? Nah...

I just wondered about the additives, as the idea of a friction-reducing coating is attractive. I am not entirely cold on that notion.

Not going the way of taller diffs. It might be faster and quieter...but I don't want to change from what I have down low.

I wouldn't actually know what the linkages are touching....they're buried in soundproofing.

I'm looking at earmuffs, stereos, you-name-it. But what I really want is to make the bloody thing quieter...

Cheers,

John

[Johnno1969]

Oh, and John in NSW makes a good point. The noise is definitely transmitted through the whole transmission. Comes from everywhere......

[Lotz-A-Landies]

<snip>

I'm looking at earmuffs, stereos, you-name-it. But what I really want is to make the bloody thing quieter...

Cheers,

John

The other way to reduce the noise, but a bit expensive is to change to a Roverdrive SX model. They are an epicyclic box so a lot quieter than the Fairey/Toro type

[akelly]

I tried everything with my old S3 (fairey OD) - nothing made a skerrick of difference. Slick 50, Nulon, different oils, blah, blah, blah. In the end if your OD is noisey then its noisey - its the wear on the machined surfaces that makes the noise. I have a toro in my S2A - its very quiet but jumps out of gear from time to time, I never get around to adjusting it! Bottom line is that at the speeds you can effectively use the OD (100kph plus) the landy is damn loud anyway - certainly too loud to enjoy for long, even the stereo wont really cut through.

Since the advent of the iPod I have decided never to bother installing a stereo in another series landy - I just use good quality noise cancelling in-ear headphones that are black so they dont stand out (I think its illegal to drive with headphones on?). Works a treat, I can hear the music/podcasts and I dont notice the noise!

Cheers,

Adam

[Johnno1969]

I tried everything with my old S3 (fairey OD) - nothing made a skerrick of difference. Slick 50, Nulon, different oils, blah, blah, blah. In the end if your OD is noisey then its noisey - its the wear on the machined surfaces that makes the noise. I have a toro in my S2A - its very quiet but jumps out of gear from time to time, I never get around to adjusting it! Bottom line is that at the speeds you can effectively use the OD (100kph plus) the landy is damn loud anyway - certainly too loud to enjoy for long, even the stereo wont really cut through.

Since the advent of the iPod I have decided never to bother installing a stereo in another series landy - I just use good quality noise cancelling in-ear headphones that are black so they dont stand out (I think its illegal to drive with headphones on?). Works a treat, I can hear the music/podcasts and I dont notice the noise!

Cheers,

Adam

Yeah, more good points. I do tend to use the overdrive at lower speeds than everybody seems to be mentioning (100km/h?? What's that? haven't done that in the IIA for years...), usually engaging it from anything over 70km/h (and I rarely push the old girl past 80km/h anyway). Still, it was worth picking brains more knowledgabe than my own. I have always had my eye out for a Toro overdrive, but have never seen one.

I found a broken boogie-board next to a rubbish bin on the beach the other day. I might cut it up and jam it between the front seats...should be good for another eight inches of insulation.....

......and put in Slick 50

....and get an ipod

.....keep on thinking of how to beat the curse of Fairey.

Cheers,

John