Help to find whining noise

[Flying Dutchman]

I'm a little baffled on this whining / howl noise on my 03 RMK...
Over the summer, I rebuilt the suspension, cleaned clutches and changed gears/ chain.
Finally went for a ride yesterday and got this whining noise starting around 25mph to 40ish. The whine builds in strength and then disappears at 40. When sitting down, it sounds like it's under the hood, more to the clutch side. Doesn't sound like the track or suspension. The only thing I tried so far is changing the belt but that didn't help. The machine itself runs great, everything works like it should. Just have this weird noise that wasn't there when I parked it in May.
I'm new to the Team secondary, but can't see how it can make noise?
We did put on 55 miles without a hitch, so don't know how serious this is, Just doesn't sound right.
I'll be ripping everything apart, but don't even know what to look for, hopefully find something. I know noises are hard to diagnose like this, but if you have any great ideas, please don't hesitate to throw them out here.........thanks

 

[Super Dave3]

Try disconnecting the speedo cable and see if the problem goes away.

 

[sled_guy]

Is it an 03 Escape or standard RMK? Try dragging the brake a little and see if it goes away. The Fantom brake can make a whine noise. Did you replace the chaincase fluid with some other kind than what you used before? On my Edge if I use full synthetic in the chaincase the chain makes a bunch of noise it doesn't make with dino oil.

Maybe a bearing going bad?

sled_guy

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Verticle Edge RMK

Changed bottom gear and chain c/w synthetic Spectro. I don't know what was in there before. I kept the top 19T since it looked as good as the new bottom gear.

All I did to the secondary is clean it up, change the helix to the mtn position. I think it has the red/black spring. I did notice when changing the belt, that the spring tension seemed really strong, but that shouldn't cause a noise.? This one took a lot more effort to open the sheaves than the button style.

Otherwise, nothing has changed since I parked it in May.

 

[boxster7614]

Seems like a wild goose chase but here are a few more to add to your list. Check both the Jack shaft bearing and the drive shaft bearings. Drive shaft sees more stress and is more likely to see water penetration. A sled sitting all summer gives the bearings a good oportunity to corrode. May also want to check bearings in the chain case both upper and lower.

But the speedo cable Idea sounds like a good place to start as well.