Anyone who has run richmond gears especially the 4.57 has noted a good deal of whine. But the problem (to my knowledge) has not been noted with any of J's racing gears. Does this whine persist in the 4.77's from ricks (I can't remember if they are richmond or mazda)? Or do I need to grin and bare the 900$ to get the J's 4.77s?

Any input would be great.

Thanks,
-Alex

 

As far as I know, only the 4.57s are made by Richmond Gear. The 4.77s are from Japan.

 

Moving to S2000talk.

The 4.57 gearset is made by richmond. a large part of "why" they whine, is they are made of a harder material. even if installed perfectly, you'll get some whine. the way it was explained to me was since the metal is not as soft as stock or the 4.77 for example, a bit of resonation occurs from the movement of the ring and pinion gear meshing together.

I have them and the whine is perfectly bearable for me, and my girlfriend never complains either. it's also softer at certain speeds, and non-existent above 75mph or below 35mph.

the 4.77 gears are made for the kia spectra. while people get teh 4.77 without too much concern, the main reason I went with the richmond was personal preference. They are the strongest of all the gears available (and 20% stronger than stock) and are made for the S2k. the 4.77 is a kia gear that happens to fit our cars, but is made for a 170hp kia spectra. IMO, not what I want to put into my 240hp S2000.

The 4.44 gears are made for the miata, but the world supply of them is pretty much depleted.

 

I wish Richmond would make a 4.77 for our cars. I will probably go with 4.57's though. I'll take a stronger gear over a quieter gear anyday.

 

I'm still curious as to how loud this whine really is. I am really interested in 457's but I do not want them to be annoying.

 

I though the gears from J's racing japan were made by J's racing.?

 

well I am unsure of exactly who makes the J's gears, but from my understanding if you compare the kia 4.77 to the J's side by side, they are identical. they are also not as strong as the 4.57.

folex, a lot of this depends on how the install goes. if the install is not done properly, the whine can be louder. I am probably going to make a video (today maybe?) with my camcorder on the mount, to show the gear whine.

 

"Annoying" is an individual assessment. Each gear install will have different levels of whine and each gear install may or may not get worse with time. For some, they can tolerate a very loud whine, while for others, even the lowest whine can be unacceptable. And in a few cases, the whine has been bad enough that it is only tolerated on the race track. Each situation is different.

It was posted here some years ago that J's did not manufacture these gears. They only sold them via their distribution system, of which, many of the well known board sponsors were on their list. J's got them from the same manufacturer that made them for Kia, Mazda, etc.

 

A while back, (year maybe?) someone researched final drive gearsets and came across a lot of information about aftermarket gears being made by Kia and Mazda. Didn't someone go straight to a Kia dealership and get a steal of a deal for the gears? Just curious to know if this is still the deal.

 

I guess that just goes to show you that regardless of quality it costs more from japan.

Well if what Wisconsin2k said is true that his whine is between 35-75 then there is no way regardless of install that the whine will be audible over the drone of my Invidia or my T1r.

4.57 it is.