Here’s Why Reverse Gear Has A Whining Noise

Your car's gearbox is generally silent in operation and needs to be so as it has been designed to operate silently in most conditions. However, this silent operation of gears and as soon as you engage the reverse gear and accelerate.

Here’s Why Reverse Gear Has A Whining Noise

While accelerating in reverse gear, the silent operation of the gearbox transforms into a whining noise that increases with speed. While many new car users visit the service centre to check this noise, the service centre simple tells them that the noise is normal in reverse gear.

Here’s Why Reverse Gear Has A Whining Noise

However, do you know why the gearbox makes a whining noise while accelerating in reverse gear? If not, then this article will help you clear your mind.

Moreover, if you are familiar with car racing, this whining noise in reverse gear will sound pretty similar to the noise from the transmission in racing cars as well. However, this doesn't mean that the reverse gear has anything to do with racing, but surprisingly there are some similarities.

Here’s Why Reverse Gear Has A Whining Noise

But before moving to the similarities, let us talk about why transmissions in racing cars make whining noise and transmissions in road cars are generally silent in operation. In simple terms, it boils down to the type of gears used inside the transmission.

Here’s Why Reverse Gear Has A Whining Noise

While racing cars use straight cut gears, road cars use helical gears. As a result of using straight gears inside the transmission of racing cars, they produce a lot more noise. This noise is caused by the teeth of the gear meshing with each other and this meshing happens to the entire surface of that particular set of gear teeth.

Here’s Why Reverse Gear Has A Whining Noise

On the other hand, helical gears have an angled pattern for its teeth and this results in a gradual increase in contact point between the gears. This results in less impact and as a result, produces less noise while meshing.

Here’s Why Reverse Gear Has A Whining Noise

Moreover, the production cost of straight cut gears is far lesser than helical gears due to its simpler teeth design that is parallel to the gear's centreline. Moreover, straight cut gears produce much lesser thrust load on the gear shaft, thus it can be made more compact with fewer materials.

Here’s Why Reverse Gear Has A Whining Noise

On the other hand, helical gears are far more complex in design and require a more complicated machining process. In addition to that, this type of gear produces more axial load, and these gears need to be made a bit heavier as well.

As such, straight cut gears are used for reverse gear in cars as they are more compact and the overall production cost can also be lowered by automakers. However, as mentioned, these straight cut gears produce a lot of noise and this is the noise that you hear while reversing your car.

Here’s Why Reverse Gear Has A Whining Noise

What DriveSpark Thinks...

The whining noise made by your gearbox while accelerating in reverse is due to the character of the straight cut gears and there is no need to visit the service centre for it. However, If you are a fan of racing, enjoy the sound of straight cut gears.

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Read more on: #off beat
Article Published On: Friday, September 2, 2022, 22:02 [IST]
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