15 replies to this topic

[merther]

I have sc drop gears fitted to my car. They are from mini spares. I understand drop gears make noise but mine seem excessively noisy. Like they drown out any engine noise and all I can hear inside is the gears.  They are ratio’d so not 1:1. They also rattle when in neutral. Is this normal? 

[nicklouse]

Normal.

[Gaz66]

Welcome to the world of straight cut gears.
Its like music to my ears!

[Northernpower]

Welcome to the world of hearing problems in later life. I changed my straight cuts for helicals and suddenly heard lots of squeaks and rattles I didn't know existed.

[mini13]

Fit a SC final drive... then you wont be able o hear the drops LOL

[Steve220]

Ear plugs or headphones help

[Gaz66]

https://youtu.be/dmJH84FnQa8

When your sc gearset sounds like this its time for ear defenders!
Effin nora!

[bpirie1000]

https://youtu.be/dmJH84FnQa8

When your sc gearset sounds like this its time for ear defenders!
Effin nora!

Sounds like my wife..... some say that only dogs and cats can hear her screams when she gets to know how much i spend in mini spares.....

[Cooperman]

SC drop gears are intended only for competition cars and thus crash helmets reduce the horrible noise they make.
They really are unsuitable for road cars and are not needed.
I won't even fit them to rally cars.

[coopertaz]

club member fitted them, not for long. straight cut box with clubman gearset all the way

[Cooperman]

When I fitted my SC drops, it was after I had to retire from a rally when the helical drop gears failed. However, that was after almost 30 rallies, so I shouldn't complain really. Anyway, I fitted the SC drops, but the noise was horrible. It was not so bad during competitions when wearing crash helmets with intercom or road-section headsets, but if I wanted to simply go out and drive around to enjoy the simple driving experience, it was anything but good. In fact, I found i was reluctant to even go out in the car and I took the SC drops out and reverted to helical ones.

With SC drops, ear-plugs are a must as a minimum for road driving, unless you really do want to suffer from tinnittus in later life (as I do, and fun it ain't!).

[unburntfuelinthemorning]

SC drops sound much nicer when flooring it so you just need to make sure you floor it at all times. 

[Tommyboy12]

The noise is the reason I went for the following: Straight cut gearbox and helical drops. You get the whine of straight cuts from 1st to 3rd then 4th gear is all helical and quiet because youre just locking input to output.

[OzOAP]

I run SC drops on my road car. Many passengers have commented that its not as noisy as they thought it would be.
One reason for that, they are fitted properly.
Measure the lash between the idler and input as this is set by the gear manufacturer, then measure primary/idler lash. This can be altered by different thickness gaskets between engine and box.
There is big variation in gasket thickness from one manufacturer to another.

[mini13]

on this note... if youve had the block line bored or honed, it will increase the lash, in some cases, you may have to dispence with the gasket altogether and just run sealant,

 

 

I run SC drops on my road car. Many passengers have commented that its not as noisy as they thought it would be.
One reason for that, they are fitted properly.
Measure the lash between the idler and input as this is set by the gear manufacturer, then measure primary/idler lash. This can be altered by different thickness gaskets between engine and box.
There is big variation in gasket thickness from one manufacturer to another.