SVSU's gearbox

[Jersey Tom]

Past two years at comp their car has had a very loud distinct whine to it. For the life of me I couldnt figure it out. Some people thought turbo, but didn't sound right.

Just dawned on me now that sound is pretty typical of 'racecar', straight-cut, dog-engagement gearboxes. But if thats the case I can't figure out why its so loud. Even the F4i as far as I see uses the same style, race gearbox but is very quiet. Any ideas? Couldn't find their fsae webpage

[Jersey Tom]

Past two years at comp their car has had a very loud distinct whine to it. For the life of me I couldnt figure it out. Some people thought turbo, but didn't sound right.

Just dawned on me now that sound is pretty typical of 'racecar', straight-cut, dog-engagement gearboxes. But if thats the case I can't figure out why its so loud. Even the F4i as far as I see uses the same style, race gearbox but is very quiet. Any ideas? Couldn't find their fsae webpage

[D-Train]

Looks to me like they don't have any sprockets... maybe they're just small.

http://www.svsu.edu/clubs/fsae/pictures/pics_2005/files/page9-1008-full.jpg

This was their '05 car though - probably same in '06.

[Kenny T Cornett]

http://www.svsu.edu/clubs/fsae/index.html

Is that them? Doesn't show anything in any of the pictures that looks abnormal. I don't have sound on this computer, but they have videos... maybe you can listen in and hear it and others can help narrow it down to possibilities.



That or maybe they have their chain too tight http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_confused.gif

[TG]

It's not the gearbox... it's the gear drive from the transmission output to the the diff. University of Idaho also has a gear drive, although theirs is spur gears straight back (single reduction with an intermediary gear). I was talking to one of the guys on their team about their system, from what I remember, they use spur and ring gears in their system with a double reduction. This is what gives their car their whine, but you'll notice the whine is speed dependant rather than rev dependant.

[Bill Kunst]

No chain, exposed gears if I remember correctly. The gears are pretty cool, they don't need any substantial lube, and are fairly loud. I could be wrong, though, and would hope that someone else could give there two cents.

[Mike Claffey]

The car I saw had a magnesium caseing around the diff. Really nice stuff. Not sure if it was 05 or 06 car. I think it was the white one, which would be 06 though.

[Dan Deussen @ Weber Motor]

No chain, straight cut gears hit it right on. SVSU has been using this type of gearbox since 2003. The weight of the system is a bit heavier than a chain drive but inertia is reduced by a significant amount.

[Big Poppa]

The whine does come from the straight cut gear drive. We have been testing a cast Magnesium housing and diff, although it did not take too long to come the the conclusion that the magnesium diff was a no go, but the case has held up great. The gear box makes the back of the car look nice and clean and makes packaging of the brake rotors and driveshafts easy. The system has its positives and negatives to it, anyone that was at the Grand Prix got to see two gear boxes explode. So the system is getting a overhaul for the 07 car.

Kyle Leinaar
Cardinal Formula Racing
06 Team Captian

[TG]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Big Poppa:
anyone that was at the Grand Prix got to see two gear boxes explode. So the system is getting a overhaul for the 07 car.

Kyle Leinaar
Cardinal Formula Racing
06 Team Captian </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Do you know what the cause of the destruction was from?

[Big Poppa]

We had several issues this year with the gearbox (heat treat and tolerances of the gears) along with a possible frame alignment that caused the distruction. All three of our running cars have gear boxes.

Kyle Leinaar
Cardinal Formula Racing
06 Team Captian

[Ian McMurdo]

Kyle, could you please post up some detailed pictures?