Anyone have any problems with there pinion angle changing do to a 4 link?

Edited: 9/30/2006 11:58:12 AM by smallz

Does anyone have any problems of with there pinion angle and drive shaft because your link bars werent exaclty parallel? Any driveshafts or u joints goin? What angle should the pinion be around? 2-3 degrees? Or does it not really matter if your only making a few degree changes? Such as from +3 to -2 Degrees?

you spent enought time on that frame and it looks gorgeous. You should absolutely fix it so it does not change pinion angle, if for nothing else but out of respect for how nice the rest of the frame is.

Yes you will wear u-joints with a -2 to +3 change, because somewhere in that range is 0 and your joints will be unloaded.

I have 14 inches of lift and my pinion does not change, not even one degree. Its all in the setup, so tack weld it together and run it through its range of motion. YOu should set it up at ride height, keeping the lower bars parallel to the ground at this height, then tack in the uppers keeping them parallel (looking from the side parallel if you are doing a triangulated 4 link) to the lowers at this height. Then run the axle through its range of motion and watch the pinion angle.

If your uppers are disproportionate in length to the lowers, you can still have no pinion change but it will take careful setup.

Good luck. Looks good.

I have been told that you want your pinion angle of the rear-end to match the angle of your tranny output shaft. So all you need to do is find find the angle of the output shaft of your tranny and then match your pinion angle to that at ride height. For instance, my tranny has 2 degrees of slope so I set my pinion angle at 2 degrees (at ride height). I haven't had any problems.

Originally posted by FreaksofReno



I have been told that you want your pinion angle of the rear-end to match the angle of your tranny output shaft. So all you need to do is find find the angle of the output shaft of your tranny and then match your pinion angle to that at ride height. For instance, my tranny has 2 degrees of slope so I set my pinion angle at 2 degrees (at ride height). I haven't had any problems.

thats mostly true not exactly right, you want a few degrees more down angle to counter the twist of acceleration. The more your setup twists, the more you need. Most trucks with leafs and a zero trans angle (like his toyota) will have -5 from the factory. WHen you put in a 4 link, it wont twist any where near as much as a set of leafs on hard acceleration, so you can lessen that to -2. If you match the tranny angle, you will have phased the driveshaft and have a 0 working angle, at cruise your u joints will just eat themselves up.

S10's on the other hand have a down angle at the trans, meaning you need an up angle at the rear. So yes, you are right, the trans angle is how you properly find the rear pinion angle, but it is not as simple as matching them.

Good to know! Thanks Russ!

Originally posted by Russ-D



Yes you will wear u-joints with a -2 to +3 change, because somewhere in that range is 0 and your joints will be unloaded.





somewhere in those 14" your pinion angle will be 0 rusty

remember the pinion angle is the angle of both sides of the ujoint. if your tranny is at 0, and your rear end is at 0, but your driveshaft is at a -2 degree slope from rear end to tranny, you have a working angle of 2 degrees on both ujoints, which is good.

but, you are very right on the part about setting up for loads, because the torque will change the angle slightly, depending on the amount of torque, but you also dont want that annoying vibration while cruising down the road.

check this site out for alittle food for thought:

http://www.carcraft.com/howto/91758/

keep in mind this is for a static suspension.

What if your going to run a 2 piece drive shaft? Still set it up at the same angle as tranny?

Originally posted by bdroppeddak

somewhere in those 14" your pinion angle will be 0 rusty

only if I drive with the front all the way down and dont balance the ride height between front and rear.

Mine works as it should, essentially adding pinion angle as the frame angle is increased. When the front and rear are level, it is -2. With the front down and the rear up, it is cloiser to -5. I made my bars as long as I could so it follws the driveshaft arc closely. My "0 pinion change" statement was misleading, that was with frame on stands and running the axle up and down with a jack. 14 inches, 0 pinion change. And thats how it should be measured.

But yes, that is an important part too, keeping the pinion related to the driveshaft angle, which does change with lift differences between the front and rear suspension.

smallz, to run a carrier bearing setup you simply follow the riles twice. trans angle 0, front joint -2, rear joint (by connection will be) +2, rear end -3 to -5...

Edited: 9/30/2006 1:26:13 PM by smallz

I did a motor swap and my new motor and trans are set at a 2 degree slope, sloping downward, so will i still need to have a -3 to -5 pinion angle? So my rear end show be pointing down correct?