Final Drive Questions

[Groover]

I have a few questions in regards to the final drive on my '81 G5. When riding last season, I noticed that 5th gear had a little whine. Not sure if that is normal or not, but from searching the forum maybe it's not a good thing. It wasn't super loud, but I could definitely tell when I was in 5th just by the slight change of gear type sound. I changed oil and such, and the old oil didn't seem to have any abnormalities to it (no chunks of metal or anything).

Second question... Are the final drives on the G5 the same as the 850t3, convert etc? Is there a "shorter" ratio one? I don't really drive highways, so if/when I were to ever work on the final drive I would consider a slightly shorter ratio for my application. Bad idea?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I have a few questions in regards to the final drive on my '81 G5. When riding last season, I noticed that 5th gear had a little whine. Not sure if that is normal or not, but from searching the forum maybe it's not a good thing. It wasn't super loud, but I could definitely tell when I was in 5th just by the slight change of gear type sound. I changed oil and such, and the old oil didn't seem to have any abnormalities to it (no chunks of metal or anything).

Second question... Are the final drives on the G5 the same as the 850t3, convert etc? Is there a "shorter" ratio one? I don't really drive highways, so if/when I were to ever work on the final drive I would consider a slightly shorter ratio for my application. Bad idea?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Sounds to me like you are talking about the transmission, not the final drive?

[Dick]

Second question... Are the final drives on the G5 the same as the 850t3, convert etc? Is there a "shorter" ratio one? I don't really drive highways, so if/when I were to ever work on the final drive I would consider a slightly shorter ratio for my application. Bad idea?

Thanks in advance for the help.

G5 and T3 are the same (7/33). Convert is higher gearing(9/34). Convert also has finer pinion splines, so not easily interchangeable with the others. Good luck.

Oh yeah, there are sidecar gears which are lower, but probably too low for daily use, unless maybe your hauling a sidecar??

[Two Checks]

If the noise is only in 5th it's not the final drive. All my Guzzis have made a slight whine in 5th at a certain rpm.

[Groover]

If the noise is only in 5th it's not the final drive. All my Guzzis have made a slight whine in 5th at a certain rpm.

That completely makes sense. Never thought of it that way, not sure why.. but I was thinking final drive for some reason. Thanks, that makes me feel better now.

Good deal on the ratios too. Not hauling a side car, but I'm riding 90% of the time 2-up so was just curious what my options were, if any.

Thanks for the replies.