B44: Tight and notchy transmission?
 

Hi guys,

I’m halfway through my B44 build and while most of it has been very smooth, I’ve noticed that the front and rear transmissions are really tight and notchy.

Have checked and ensured they are built correctly, removed flashing from the ring/pinion gear, ensured the gearbox isn't over-tightened.

Read on another board that the car should be run like this and that the gears will free up after a few packs.

I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this? Should I run the car as is and expect it to free up? It is one of the tighter transmissions I’ve ever built and it’s certainly not what I expected of this car.

Any input would be great! Thanks.

BC

my one was smooth as anything, an could hardly hear anything it was so quiet.

China moulds.... :rolleyes:

G

sounds to me like the gearbox isn't shimmed correctly. Play about with the positions of the spacer shims on the diff and see if that helps...

What do the instructions say about shimming?

I looked on the AE site and there is no manual to download :(

G

Well... the instructions just show the number of shims to put on each side of the ring and pinion gears. I followed them exactly.

I was going to play with the shims but on another board someone mentioned that playing with the shimming would break gears as the gears wore in.

Icemike - smooth eh? I guess there might be some tolerance or molding inconsistencies then.

Mine was the same, i checked it all through and was fine so ran a few packs through it and its now fine.

i would say there are some inconsistencies for now. i heard about some of the idler gears in the b4 being oval. so im sure that some of the b44 ones will be slightly wrong 2

I had exactly the same problem but only on one gearbox. I took out one black shim on the pinion shaft and put it together and it was very smooth.

I then read on an American forum that you should not change the kit shims and build it as per instructions and it will bed in.

So back in bits again and decided to wet and dry a VERY small amount of flashing which was noticeable from the rear of the pinion. All shims back in and it is smooth now.

Not run it yet though!

there seems to be alot of "shims" on here lately

In my experience with the BJ4 thats not the way to go, as the gears hardly wear the 'bedding in' doesn't really happen. If it's notchy when you build it chances are thats how it will stay ;)

I havn't checked to see if the B44 uses the same TC3 gears as the BJ4 but if they are the same it's very important you trim the flashing from the back of the pinion gear!

Never had to shim the TC3 gears we used in the Pred, and one set has lasted about 5 years in the front (car was run for over 2 years, and is still used as a spare - Used at Worksop last time), and only ever replace once in the rear.

G

The BJ4/B44 have shims in certain positions when you build them, presumably for manufacturing tolerences.

yes the tolerances are off.

has nothing to do with the shimming. shim close or shim far, still is notchy when new.

just shim as per manual 4, 3 shims.

then run it on a bench for a pack.

then run it slowly on the track for another pack.


mine is smooth as silk now. the most quiet buggy i have ever driven.

Thanks for the input everyone!

Sure helps to know what everyone's experiences are.

I did some hunting and even on Associated's site they recommend to run in with the recommended shimming. I'll give that a try.

Completed 90% of the car and the rest of the built was very very good. Parts were properly organized by build steps and the quality seemed top notch. Other than the notchy transmission - everything went together well with no fit or finishing issues whatsoever.

Read Jimmy's (fantastic) review on the BJ4WE to see the differences that AE has made to the car... many subtle changes, and the slipper certainly looks like a major improvement.

Will run in the car once I get the electronics installed and update on the notchy diffs... :)

Do the gearboxes run dry or greased in the B44?

im running mine dry. the manual didnt say to put any in so i didnt. :P

Manual runs the gearboxes dry... but I put a tad of grease in mine.

Almost done with the car... how are you guys bleeding the shocks? Seems almost impossible to do it as the instructions suggest. :)

mines a notchy as hell so far!!

shocks I just build as I normally build my B4 ones, no problems!

JP, very carefully take the minute bit of flashing off the back of the diff pinion gear. It sorted mine and they are super smooth!

do you mean the small gear on the drive shaft that goes into the gear box?

He does indeed

not helped mine so far, if I loosen the gear box its fine.
will have another try while its in parts!

Make a bit of a gasket out of cheese to go between the diff housings.
It needs to be proper cheese, not that crap you get in burgers.
Please pm Stu if you require more help with cheese.

J

Mines tight too, but ive read alot of posts on the Yank forums saying it beds in after a few runs.
Prefer tight to loose......transmissions of course ;)

I prefer it too but in more than just transmissions ;) :D

Just thought I'd update everyone on the notchy gear issue.

Ran a couple of packs through my car and the gears remained as notchy as ever. In fact, during my runs my deans plugs were getting really hot... in one case even the solder joint came undone. Car was not overgeared by any means so my guess was that the tight gears were constantly adding load for the motor to work out.

Stripping down the car I found that everytime the gearbox was closed up the gears would get tight... even when I removed all the shims to loosen up the gear mesh.

On close inspection I realized that the gears were shimmed correctly from the factory. The tightness wasn't caused by a tight mesh. Rather, it was the outer edges of the bevels on ring and pinion gear that were causing the notchiness. (the next time you open up your gearboxes take a look and you'll see what I mean) :)

So I carefully took some material off the outer edge of the gears. Particularly on the ring gear I basically gave it a slight "bevel" on the outer edge. Assembled the gearbox back together and that fixed my notchy problem. Same shimming as per instructions and everything was smooth.

Mine seemed fine when i tried it but if the problem does arise on my transmission then i'll file abit of it off like you say, already had to do this to one of the new b4 idler gears so should be if i have to do it for my b44 too :D