Ah, the 5th gear whining

[farm1810]

My 2008 RSTD has about 18K miles and has a whine mosting in 5th gear and most pronounced below 50 mph. I have been around early Willys Jeeps for most of my life and the noise happily reminds me of an early Jeep transfer case, particularly with an aftermarket overdrive is added. Mine really isn't all that loud, even with the stock mufflers. My question is; should I be concerned at all i.e. asking the dealer about changing the clutch basket or is this just a characteristic of the motorcycle and I should love it for what it is just like I love my old Jeeps? I am hoping it is the latter. R.

[albyzee]

Why are you in 5th at that speed? You must wind the gears out in order to have the bike operate properly. I don't use 5th till 70-75.

[farm1810]

I clunk it over into 5th when I am on a flat surface, for a longer distance. But this is a 2 lane road with shoulders and 50 mph speed limit. If I am only to use 5th when running 70 - 75 mph, I am basically left with a 4 speed bike as the speed limit on the interstate in my area is 65 mph. The engine sounds fine from an rpm standpoint and is not lugging along at all. I do downshift into 4th with a grade. The other thing is; the whining is only under power. If I roll back to a neutral position on throttle or decellarate, the whining goes completely away. Almost more like a care with a noisy differential / bad pinion bearing.

[SilvrT]

My 2008 RSTD has about 18K miles and has a whine mosting in 5th gear and most pronounced below 50 mph.

 

That's too low of a speed to be in 5th ... you should be in at least 4th or even 3rd.

[SilvrT]

I clunk it over into 5th when I am on a flat surface, for a longer distance. But this is a 2 lane road with shoulders and 50 mph speed limit. If I am only to use 5th when running 70 - 75 mph, I am basically left with a 4 speed bike as the speed limit on the interstate in my area is 65 mph. The engine sounds fine from an rpm standpoint and is not lugging along at all. I do downshift into 4th with a grade. The other thing is; the whining is only under power. If I roll back to a neutral position on throttle or decellarate, the whining goes completely away. Almost more like a care with a noisy differential / bad pinion bearing.

 

If you're in 5th and applying power and at 50mph, you're lugging the engine ... get it into 4th or even 3rd. These engines are designed to run at higher rpm's ... that is where the power band is. Heck, you can get to 100mph in 3rd on these things (so some say... not me tho ... )

[Sylvester]

3rd gear 45-50 and 4th gear 60-65 minimum. You won't be getting good gas mileage running 50 in 5th and you won't be helping your engine.

 

[BoomerCPO]

Get a set of loud pipes (Baron's), add some tunes via a Ipod,and roll hard on the throttle.....you won't hear no whine then I garontee ya.....

Boomer.....who sez even the pygmies love the roar of dat V4....

[SilvrT]

3rd gear 45-50 and 4th gear 60-65 minimum. You won't be getting good gas mileage running 50 in 5th and you won't be helping your engine.

 

 

hmmmmmmm... what gear from 50 - 60 ??

[Hummingbird]

Why are you in 5th at that speed? You must wind the gears out in order to have the bike operate properly. I don't use 5th till 70-75.

 

if that's the case my bike should never see 5th gear

[V7Goose]

My 2008 RSTD has about 18K miles and has a whine mosting in 5th gear and most pronounced below 50 mph. I have been around early Willys Jeeps for most of my life and the noise happily reminds me of an early Jeep transfer case, particularly with an aftermarket overdrive is added. Mine really isn't all that loud, even with the stock mufflers. My question is; should I be concerned at all i.e. asking the dealer about changing the clutch basket or is this just a characteristic of the motorcycle and I should love it for what it is just like I love my old Jeeps? I am hoping it is the latter. R.

First of all, I want to say that I strongly disagree with most of the comments above that say you are in the wrong gear. As long as you are only doing steady riding or gentle acceleration (such as riding behind any typical econo-box cage), 5th gear is absolutely fine all the way down to 40 or 45. But the moment you feel any vibration or shaking at all, you are lugging the engine and really should have downshifted. If you are doing anything but the most mild acceleration, then the advice to not use 5th until you hit 70 is totally valid.

 

Now, about that whine - if it is the common clutch basket gear whine that many of these bikes have (but not all of them), it will be there in any gear at the same RPM and engine load. The RPM band is not the same on all engines, but 2,400-2,800 is typically close. With a tach it is quite easy to check for the sound in 4th and 5th at the same RPM. Without a tach it may take a little more playing around to find it. I know there is a chart available in some threads that shows the RPM/speed for each gear, but I cannot tell you exactly where it is without searching myself. My best guess is that if you have a significant whine around 45 in 5th, then you should probably hear the same thing around 35 in 4th under the same road and acceleration conditions. If you are certain that your noise is only in 5th gear, I'd be worried about a transmission or final drive problem. (but if it is final drive, it should be there at 45 in any gear, just harder to hear in lower gears because of the engine noise).

Goose

[SilvrT]

First of all, I want to say that I strongly disagree with most of the comments above that say you are in the wrong gear. As long as you are only doing steady riding or gentle acceleration (such as riding behind any typical econo-box cage), 5th gear is absolutely fine all the way down to 40 or 45. But the moment you feel any vibration or shaking at all, you are lugging the engine and really should have downshifted. If you are doing anything but the most mild acceleration, then the advice to not use 5th until you hit 70 is totally valid.

 

Looks to me like you're "mildly" contradicting yourself .... :stickpoke:

[V7Goose]

Looks to me like you're "mildly" contradicting yourself .... :stickpoke:

No, I am not. I made it quite clear that 5th gear was fine for 45 MPH and steady riding or mild acceleration, which is exactly what the OP said he was doing.

Goose

[albyzee]

I will check this out on my bike but 5th gear is way to much at 50. You got to be lugging that bike no matter how you are accelerating. As for not using 5th. If you want terrible gas milage and making your engine struggle just going down the road heck it's your bike. I definitely suggest 3rd or 4th. Try it and see how your bike runs this way. One last thing if by chance you need immediate speed to get out of trouble you will not have it available in 5th. I will confirm my statements.

Edited August 18, 2011 by albyzee

[BoomerCPO]

The only time I use 5th gear is when I am on the Interstate at 70mph or better. For town/city riding it is a lot easier to downshift to 3rd if I need that power to get around/away from some clown in a cage who is trying to kill me.

Boomer....who sez if he wuz concerned about gas mileage he'd be driving a VW.

[farm1810]

So today I put myself in the mindset that I had a bike with a 4 speed transmission and an overdrive, not a 5 speed. May sound silly, but I grew up in the days when cars had 3 speeds with overdrive, so this made mental sense to me. Even at 60 mph it was quite comfortable and the engine was happy just as all of you said. Thank you. As far as my noise, I believe it is coming from the differential. The bike still makes the noise at about starting at about 45 mph and continuing up to 60 even in 4th gear. It whines away while under accelleration, but goes silent when the throttle is in a more neutral position or when decellerating. Good news is, the warrantee is good until July 2014!! Woohoo!

[BuddyRich]

If you really want to feel what that bike can do take 2nd to about 50 then third to about 90. She'll move out in third..

[slickster]

I don't ride my rsv very hard most of the time...typically I hit 5th at 45-50mph...no lugging and I average 42 mpg....it does like to wind up should the spirit move me though....have put 13K on it in a year and have yet to hit the rev limiter....(is there one?) gps says I've been 108 mph....changed the fuel pump today ....generic pump, pretty easy install....

[Freebird]

Yes, there is a rev limiter. You cannot hit it in 4th or 5th but you can hit it in 1st - 3rd. I don't remember for sure but I think it is set at about 6250 or 6500 RPM.

[albyzee]

Well I tried running in 5th at 50. It will ride fine if you are just cruising BUT if you need immediate power you will not have it and by downshifting for more speed that split second may be the split second that you needed to get out of the emergency with more speed. It lugged terrible twisting the throttle. So I still would rather be in 3 or 4th depending how I am driving.