On Transmissions The reverse gear has a Spur gear,which has straight teeth so when you put it into reverse and start going, the whining noise you hear is the teeth of the spur gear slapping together,

the reason you dont hear the noise in any other gear is because the other gears are called helical gears, which have like angle/beveled gears

SPUR

HELICAL

Vouches: GreenVtecDC2

93 civic CX (project car)- Sold

1997 dodge ram 1500 sport 4x4 extended cab
360 magnum

CD squad #016

FS: s2k radio, Cd changer, amps, battery, battery tie down, mirror

Now you know.

Spur gears can be straight cut or helical. Helical gears is what you're trying to describe, the teeth are 'twisted' instead of going straight across the gear. Helical gears don't whine so much since there's always some point on the gear face that's engaged with the other gear. (I know that's a sorta simplified description, so some other engineer can maybe think of a better way to describe it.)

Then there's hypoid gears which are even more sophisticated in the details of the tooth shape. They are directional, so they make more noise when going backwards. You don't have hypoid gears, they're in some RWD final-drive gearsets because of the offset shaft centerlines.

edit...
Hmmm, I just read that in howstuffworks, but I don't think they're using using the term correctly. Look at their wording under bevel gears. They talk about straight bevel gears vs. helical bevel gears. Same thing for straight spur gears vs. helical spur gears.


Modified by JimBlake at 3:07 PM 2/5/2007

'03 Accord & '07 Civic
'01 Saab 9³ & '05 9²x

TECHNICAL(?) quote...

Quote, originally posted by ?? »

some guy told me that I could set the torque wrench that I have to 100 ft/lbs and then torque it, when it clicks torque it again at 81/ft lbs to have the torque add up to 181 ft/lbs

You are absolutely wrong. And I hate people who are so confident with their wrong information. If you want to prove a point. Do some research. It whines because of the straight cut gears. not because of the low gearing.

Quote, originally posted by Howstuffworks.com »

Spur gears are used in many devices that you can see all over HowStuffWorks. But you won't find many in your car. This is because the spur gear can be really loud. Each time a gear tooth engages a tooth on the other gear, the teeth collide, and this impact makes a noise. It also increases the stress on the gear teeth. To reduce the noise and stress in the gears, most of the gears in your car are helical .

my V6 accord didn't do it
my CL type S does not do it
None of my american FWD cars did it

Sable
Cutlass

2002 Acura CL type S

Congrats on having quiet cars, but to say only I4 honda's whine in reverse is a bit much. I know for a fact I have heard toyota's, VW's, and nissans all make the same whining noise.

I read about this a few years ago, you guys are way behind.

CD Squad Member #37

Quote, originally posted by tpot90 »

Do I have the DOHC vtec or the SOHC? Or any of them? I want vtec stickers.

Quote, originally posted by tpot90 »

I like the vtec stickers, you bastards. its my G-whip.

Yeah this post was brought back to life from the FAQ's. It was a February thread.

http://www.honda-tech.com/gara...=6303

haha! keep trying buddy. its the straight cut on the reverse gear.

Have you guys ever heard of the Muncie "rock-crusher" M22 4 speed manual? Its an old school 4-speed that came on Chevelles, camaros, etc.. that had the first three forward gears cut straight instead of the usual helical cut, man those babies whine! Sounds like a supercharger!