Hi all,

My 1992 5-speed Tracker has had a whine in it for a while now and I've heard different people give different opinions on it (differential, tranny, cv) but I'm pretty sure now that it's a transmission whine.

Here's the scenerio:

The truck only whines when maintaining speed or accelerating (so anytime that the engine is turning the wheels). If I'm coasting, in gear or with the clutch in the noise goes away. It only whines under load.

It is completely speed-based, not RPM-based.

It's been going on for a while and I don't think it has got any louder/worse.

It's a little rough shifting into 1st unless the RPMs are at idle. Even less shifting into 2nd, but still sometimes a tad rough.

My fluids are all fine.

Everything seems to spin freely when up on a hoist.


Any thoughts? Input shaft? Bearings? Totally f-ed?
Please let me know what you think... I'm trying to make it home for Christmas (300kms each way). If there's any more info I could offer to help diagnose this sound please let me know and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Thanks in advance.
Cheers,

Feragoh

Did it start out in just the lower gears (1-2 and progress through the others)? Does the noise (or did it when the noise first started) happen in all gears but 4th?

If so it is definitely your tranny bearings (it's happened to two of my high mileage 5 speeds).

Zig

To be honest I don't remember the whine starting... I just seemed to notice it there one day. It's entirely possible that it started in just the low gears, but I was preoccupied with fixing another issue that may have been causing a whine too (I originally thought it was a diff whine) that I wasn't listening to the tranny until recently. It had another whine that I took care of in the wheel bearing, that might have been drowning out the tranny one...

It seems worse at low speeds, but I'm not sure if that's because it's in 1st and 2nd, or because that's just the way the whine is at that speed... It's hard to drive 10km/h in 4th to test it...

If it is the tranny bearings what am I looking at? Big repairs? There's only 138,000kms (83,000 miles) on the truck...

Thanks for the speedy reply, any other thoughts?

Cheers,

Feragoh

I've never had one whine at that mileage due to tranny bearings. Mine were all high mileage 175,000 Miles or higher. It's obvious if it does not whine in 4th. under normal driving it will get a little quieter in each higher gear (at any speed) and 4th will make no, or little noise. (5th may not depending on how worn your bearings are.

I did not tear mine apart but I have heard that it is not a real difficult task to put in new bearings.

Zig

Thanks man. I hear that's a common issue with 'Trac-kicks' so I wouldn't be surprised if that's it.
Don't suppose you know if it's still safe to drive like that? I hope I can get it fixed before I go home for Christmas but if not I had planned to drive it home anyways... Just taking it easy on the highway.

Is that the kind of tranny problem where bearing go, then as a result everything else gets f-ed up and now you need a new (or rebuilt) tranny?

Again, thanks a lot for the help.
Cheers,

Feragoh

No problem...  If it is the bearing the tranny will last a while with the whine.  I drive my X-90 with the tranny whine for 10-12,000 miles of interstate running before mine gave way, but when it did...    Wow what a ride. It let go at 75 on the interstate in rush hour traffic and luckily, a quick clutch and slam into neutral allowed me to coast to the side.

Zig

So your saying I should fix mine now rather then later...

I was just gonna post about this, noisy 3rd and 5th, same scenario.  2 and 4th are quiet.  i heard good thing about royal purple synchromax, lot of newer jeep trannys have issues that are fixed by a flush and change.  (rubiconowners.com)

as soon as the weather gets a bit warmer I think

I have synchromax in my volvo 850, but it came stock with synthetic in the transmission. Has 209,000 miles on it, and it still shifts nice. I was going to replace the car with another one, but I am planning on travelling next year, so I will probably sell it before I leave and buy another car when I get back.

So your saying I should fix mine now rather then later...

I was gonna replace mine instead of rebuilding it... so Believe me, when it gets close to letting go it will be so loud you will know, on throttle, off throttle everything but 4th gear with neutral throttle will be LOUD, I mean really LOUD. People climbing in your ride and asking "what the  is wrong with your car" loud. Then BAM, the bearing shatters in the tranny, gears get wiped out and your stuck sitting on the side of the interstate for 2 hours on a really cold afternoon 

Zig

Haha, yeah mine is nowhere near that bad yet. Most people usually assume that it's the off-road tires  humming. It's irritating, but it only seems to irritate me. My girlfriend constantly tells me I'm over reacting and she doesn't really find it that loud (women...).

I just can't stand shit like this so I want it fixed and done with. I've got my eye out for a good used tranny in my area, when I find one I'll swap it out. Until then I'll just grit my teeth and bare it. Besides, the whine kinda goes with the whole "total redneck piece of shit" theme my truck has going on right now... Covered in flat rust paint and green primer.

Thanks again for all the help.
Cheers,

Feragoh

I have some Amsoil to put in mine to see if it quiets down.  It was a bit to cold last time to finish working on it though.