Retarded loud gearbox

[Coast2Coast]

The gearbox on my 1997 conquest is retarded loud. It is loud in R, L, and H but loudest for sure in H. It's the MU medium speed transmission, but I noticed it's been opened up before, has silicone gasket maker sticking out the case. I feel like I have to slow down in H to prevent hearing loss and transmission explosion. Is there something I can do about this? I was thinking of taking the transmisson out and filing the edges of the gears down and polishing them smooth to try and quiet them down. I bought this machine for hunting but I'm affraid it will be useless for that other than to just get out to a remote place to set up camp then leave it. I feel like I'm disrupting the entire city when I drive it around my house and back in the garage lol.

[thorn]

I have a conquest with the GU tranny and although it has a bit of whine to it as do all gen I Argo trannys, I would never say it is anywhere near as loud as you are reporting. If it is that loud you most likely have an issue that needs repair. Could be a bad bearing or gear.

[msafi65]

A lot of the gen 1 Argo transmissions are noisy enough to make me wear ear muffs for extended use. The silicone on gasket side can be factory as it is reccomended in the repair manual. First thing to check is play in the input shaft. Remove driven clutch and check for any in- out and side play. You should not be able to feel any play at all. If it's loose it needs to come apart. Will at least need upper bearings. Probably input shaft and double gear to make it quiet.

[eddieb1965]

Gene Lintz (Genes Argo Sales)
told me long ago to put a bottle of STP in there and it would quiet it down a little.I always add a bottle every time I service the trans,and I dont consider mine very loud.....

[ARGOJIM]

Check the driven clutch bushing.

[Coast2Coast]

I looked at it a bit lastnight. No play in the input shaft at all. I changed the gear oil out. The stuff I drained out looked like it had never been changed before. It was dark grey, didn't smell much like gear oil, full of silver metal "dust" and brass "dust". So there must be some brass/babbit bushings in there that aren't too happy. The magnet had a normal amount of metal shavings on it. I remember reading somewhere that argos came with a dark grey break-in type oil from the factory. I can't imagine it would survive 724 hours on break in oil would it? Pretty unlikely that it was never changed, since it's so easy to do. I recall pulling dark grey gear oil like that out of machines I've bought used before, always thought they just neglected to change it and it changed color over time. I feel like I leave the gear oil too long between changes on other machines but it always looks brand new when I drain it.

New gear oil made no difference to sound. Will be chainging it again after a couple hours running since it was so dirty the first time. Working out other issues now (stalling randomly after running fine for over an hour, pulling always to the left, electrical system cutting off and on while it's turned off, running at about half power for half the day, brakes wearing out on the right hand side but not left side, not a dam tire holds air, etc)

[Buzz]

for what it's worth, I have never driven a conquest that didn't have obnoxious gear whine at higher speeds relative to whatever (high/low) range you had it in. It's worse if you are boxed in the machine under a soft top/hard top of some kind. Luckily it seems like I operate in the lower 50% of the machine's speed in my conditions so it's not near as bad.

[bcteck]

My 97 response is real loud also at high speed. I do have a full enclosure so that might make a difference. Have not tried changing the fluid yet but will do soon to see if it helps. Maybe add some Lucas to it?

[jimsummit]

My conquest was getting really loud at 750 hrs so pulled the trans. The gears had alot of wear and pitting, low worse then high, so i replaced all gears and bearings. Now it runs like a new Avenger trans. No whining or howling.
The gears are just wore out by 700 hrs, and most conquest are in need of a rebuild by now.

[Coast2Coast]

I had some mobil delvac 75W90 laying around and put that in there. It seems to be a little more quiet now. I'll change it again soon and put an entire bottle of lucas oil stabilizer in there to see if that helps it at all. One thing I noticed was that it can get somehow half into low range, and it REALLY whines loud. Move the shifter over a notch and its back to standard whine.

[jerseybigfoot]

if it sounds like a howl rather than a high pitch gear wine its the secondary clutch bushing. My 04 Bigfoot doesn't have many hours but the bushing wore out pretty quick. with the new bushing you hear some whine in High with the GU trans but livable.

[Rock Doctor]

My 2004 Conquest is rediculously loud, and my 1998 Conquest is fairly quiet. I don't suspect anything amiss in the 2004, it's been that way since I got it.
I feel your pain

RD

[Coast2Coast]

Well funny thing happened tonight. I took the primary apart the other day to clean and shim the spring. I had a heck of a time putting it back onto the output shaft and on driving it around I thought I'd damaged it because I was hearing some subtle noises I hadn't noticed before. Tonight on the way back from ice fishing the belt jumped off the secondary clutch and wrapped around it just as I was turning around to leave. I reinstalled the belt and ran it with the firewall removed and the secondary clutch inside "flange" was shaking, so it looks like that bushing is shot on the secondary. It just completely let go on the way back and was flailing around like crazy at certain speeds. More to fix!

[Midtveit]

Hi
I have 1996 conquest MU gear box, and last year I got a rattling extra sound when motor was a bit than very low speed.
I found a very hardly noticeable slack in input shaft and drained the oil and it was silverish probably not changed of a long time.

So I ordered full set of bearings and seals (and the numberous lock-tite products) and managed to change them all without much trouble, I dont ahve all the spacers pushers etc but a hammer and punch worked fine. In hindsight I should have headed the aluminium a bit and put bearings in the freezer then it would probably go in easier.

All bearings seemed OK except one of the bearings on the input shaft it had quite some slack and obviously on its way to fail completely.
In hindsight I wondered if I could have just taken out the input shaft and changed only those bearings, I have a feeling it should work even without splitting the gear box. If anyone knows if it is or is not possible I would like to hear.

Anyway my gear box is still whining like they all do (use ear muffs) but the extra rattling sound has gone.

PS: I got confused and was left with two extra shims, but it seem to work OK so far :-)

Hope my gear box will last as long as the conquest now

[jimsummit]

To the guys that find the trans too loud, it cost me approx $600 to replace the gears in my conquest and now there is no whining or howling at all!
If you only replace the bearings and seals, the howling noise will still be there.
The original gears last about 700 hrs before they start getting too worn and howl as the teeth mesh together.