H55F gearbox or transfer case whine

Dave, If it is a lower noise in 3rd and louder in fourth and stay in fifth and disappears when you back off, could it be the rear differential ? Sounds to me like it could be when it gets louder with speed. Michael

I have also noticed i have about 2mm of radial movement in the slip yoke splines for the tailshaft - this was pre-greasing. I'm not getting any vibrations, but wondering if this could be a culprit?

Dave M16
The noise may be typical but it may be a good idea to run Nulon G70 in the gearbox, transfercase and differential (unless it is an LSD).
The Teflon cushions the gears and prolongs the bearing life and also provides higher scuff resistance to the final drive gears of the crownwheel and pinion.

A mate of mine bought a used Telecom HJ60 years ago and it had very noisey bearings in the gearbox. Added Nulon G70 and the box surprisingly did 80,000km more before a rebuild.
I ran it in my HJ61 for 25 years and the box and transmission and diff showed hardly any drain plug fuzz at service times, far less than other vehicles I have serviced.
I use it in GB and transfer of my Dmax. Of course, not in the LSD diff though.

I had this problem and after spending a fortune, found out it was the speedo cable. Frustrating part was someone suggested this to me and I said the noise couldn't possibly be coming from the speedo cable.
It easy to check, just unscrew it from the gearbox and go for a drive..
Tony

G/Day Dave. Sounds like the hardsurfacing has worn off gears or bearings over time, may scream like that for a while or blow up tomorrow, thats the way it is ...lol.
Different oil or additives may help but never fixes things really!..hope all works out.


Cheers Axle.

From personal experience am sure the problem is in the transfer case.
My HZJ75 c/chas. developed a similar noise after 300000km. of pretty heavy towing work.
It begins with spline wear on the t/c input shaft/gear which then transfers to the idler gear/bearings/shaft.
The splined input gear engages with a very short splined length and can wear the splines completely away. An aftermarket gear is available with splines double the length which solves that problem.
The idler gear is supported on needle bearings running inside the gear bore and bearing directly on the idler shaft (visible from the rear of the t/c).
Wear takes place on the rollers and shaft, together with the input spline wear causing a misalignment of the input, idler/output gear cluster.
This is where the noise comes from, and the wear rate rapidly escalates.
The t/c rear half can be removed in situ for a rebuild, but to replace the input shaft (gearbox main shaft) requires the whole assembly be removed from the vehicle.
Without repair, I can definitely say its days (kilometres) are very numbered.
In my case I replaced with a re manufactured transmission.
mike

Hi Dave,

I owned a HJ47 with a 2H and H55F that had a similar noise. The clutch went in it, so that gave me an excuse to pull the box and transfer assy out (as one piece mind you) and while replacing the clutch I decided to put a bearing kit through the box and transfer. One of the mainshaft bearings was stuffed, along with 3rd/4th synchro rings. I checked clearances/tolerances before and after replacing all of the bearings and seals and things 'tightened' up back to spec after the new bearings went in. Reinstalled the box, pumped some 80W-90 in and went for a drive. The box turned out to be as quiet as a mouse, couldn't believe the difference (even in a noisy vehicle like the old 47 lol).

The heavy-duty clutch required some extra input from the left leg though!

Cheers,

Tim

Dave .

Most likely the gearbox .
Don't waste your money on additives
The correct gearbox oil is all you will ever need .
Good luck with it .

Cheers

Dave, I had this same problem in the H55f box turned out to be the transfer case. Had a bearing kit put thru it cost $1200 4 years ago. Strongly suggest you take it to a specialist in Gearbox and Diff. They have the experience to diagnose these things.

Massive thanks for all the advice and sharing of knowledge everyone. I'm going to bite the bullet and buy a rebuild kit for the transfer case and pull it apart and see what i can find. I've rebuilt the odd smaller gearbox in my time so am happy to tackle the job myself. Even found the manual online to help me through it.

I'll let you know how things pan out.