Aluminum gearbox is LOUD!

[road_rascal]

I recently replaced the stock trans with this Integy gearbox and it's much louder than the stock plastic one. Nothing is binding, all the bearings are nice and smooth, gear mesh is correct and everything spins freely. It's just loud. More of a high pitched whine. Is this common for aluminum gearboxes? Set my mind at ease before I tear it apart!

[Dr. Isotope]

If anything, my FLM and Venom gearboxes are as quiet or quieter than the stock plastic.

[road_rascal]

Well, I'm not sure what's going on. I ran the truck up and down the road pretty much full throttle for around 8 minutes and the motor/ gearbox were cool (2S, 19/86 gearing). I ran my stock VXL Slash basher around and it's much quieter. I would guess that the plastic dampens the noise and aluminum amplifies it (probably wrong). I'll keep running it as is and if something breaks, oh well.

[Kitteh298]

Is there grease in it? lol

[road_rascal]

Yup- grease in the diff and on the gears.

[ecormier]

I have a New Era Al tranny case, it is just as quiet as stock. The motor temp went down well over 10 degrease over stock. I did have an Al diff case on my e-revo make a lot of noise, fond it to be the gear rubbing against a burr. Your issue may be similar, after some running the wear marks will be visible.

[Jakey]

All the ones I have installed (non Integy) have made the Traxxas vehicle MUCH quieter than stock.

[ksb51rl]

All the ones I have installed (non Integy) have made the Traxxas vehicle MUCH quieter than stock.

Yup, quieter than you'd believe a 2wd truck could be. A buddy has a Stampede with a New Era trans case and it is so quiet you'd swear it was wind-powered.
Believe it or not, this useful bit of info came from a LHS owner: many Integy cases need clearancing to fit together correctly. I didn't think they were so bad except for the horrible screws, but he assured me otherwise.

[road_rascal]

Ok ksb51rl- you have me stumped. What is clearancing? Everything fit together just fine. I'm going to run the truck around a bit more and then tear the trans apart and see if I see any signs of rubbing. Maybe I missed a bearing that's going bad...

[ksb51rl]

Like I posted, I was not aware of fitment problems with the Integy transmission case. It was the LHS owner who claimed there were issues aside from the crappy hardware.

Clearancing: modifying parts to fit properly together.

I'm looking forward to seeing the resolution of your problem.

[road_rascal]

Well, stupid me. I figured it out. Gear mesh was ever so slightly too tight. I backed it off about .01mm and everything is super quiet now. It must have tightened up when I snugged down the motor mounting screws.

[CarGuy7a]

Also check how much play you have in the diff side to side. My Integy case had a ton of diff slop in it when the case halves were snugged up. One of my cases actually scarred on the inside from the diff flopping side to side rubbing the inside of the case. I had to use a few traxxas .5mm fiber washers to shim it, like the ones used for the top shaft. You want a little side to side movement but not a whole lot.

[slowrider998]

I run a flm tranny on my speed rusty and its super quiet.

[jwaffle9]

Dr. I - what is the adv of an aluminum gear case? I have an alum motor plate to dissipate heat and that seems to do the job.
Is there flex in the stock?
THX!

[road_rascal]

I checked the side play it seems OK. I would guess a few mm or so. I haven't been able to actually race it yet but running it around on the street it's fine (now that I got the mesh correct). I was reading a few posts (I think by Dr. Isotope) on another forum about having to shim the layshaft and diff and that no trans assembly is the same- you may have to add additional shims. But so far I'm liking the Integy case.

Also check how much play you have in the diff side to side. My Integy case had a ton of diff slop in it when the case halves were snugged up. One of my cases actually scarred on the inside from the diff flopping side to side rubbing the inside of the case. I had to use a few traxxas .5mm fiber washers to shim it, like the ones used for the top shaft. You want a little side to side movement but not a whole lot.

[hound54]

I got the Integy one too......it whines....so do other ones I know of

[billy-bones]

Just left a friends house,he has an aluminum traxxas trans case on his bench,its integy.he said it binds,and was poorly engineered.
Its a nice paper weight tho.

[cenracer1]

I don't know.. I have two Integy cases and while I can't stand them as a company, these cases fit perfectly.. Nothing needs to be fitted,clearanced or otherwise tweaked. the only issue I had were the screws.. they were the worst I've ever seen.. I had a couple of spare stainless ones laying around and solved that... Oh.. and they are quiet as well... can't really complain about them.. Everything else they makes just plain stinks.. but these cases work..

[ksb51rl]

I run a flm tranny on my speed rusty and its super quiet.

I got the Integy one too......it whines....so do other ones I know of

I just ran my P2de (same gearbox as Slashes, of course) with a New Era alu case and the only things heard were the whine of the Castle 5700 motor and the faint thrumming of worn Masher 2000 tires. After running 4WD trucks almost exclusively for months, the near silence was remarkable. Gearboxes should not whine audibly.