pinon -1-3 degrees or -1-5 degrees?

what should pinon be set at? i've red 2 different ways, negitive 1-3 degrees and also red negitive 1-5 degrees? which one is it? i'm thinking the 1-3 degrees since i've red that one the most.

also is this right? is the 1-3 degrees based from the tranny degree? so say tranny poinst down 2 degrees pinon would be at negitive 3-5 degrees to be within the 1-3 degrees? i've red quiet a few forums about setting pinon angle and only a few times i've seen whear it's based on tranny angle. some forums just talk about setting it 1-3 and that's it, don't really tell u
1-3 from what? just wondering if this is true or not.

thanks.

Go to and find the article on setting the pinion angle for a 2 piece driveshaft

Well its depends on if you are setting up a one piece or a two piece driveshaft. One piece driveshafts are usually the easiest being that you want equal but opposte angles. If you you trans is at -3 degrees then you rearend should be +3 degrees. Make sence? For 2 piece drive shafts the link listed above has a great article on setting them up.

not really 'equal but opposite'. you have the right idea, but worded it wrong unusual fab...
for a one piece driveline your rearend pinion should be pointing exactly parallel with the crankshaft of the motor all the way thru the tailshaft of the tranny. not the opposite. like he said if the motor and tranny are pointing up at 3* in the front the rearend also needs to point up at 3* in the front.
2 piece is a little trickier tho. you need to find the angle of the motor/tranny, and the first driveline, and the 2nd driveline, and use all those numbers in the formula in that site airridetalk.com that was posted above.

I worded it correctly. If you were to draw a line throught the trans and put an angle finder on the back of the trans it would read negative 3 degrees if veiwed from the drivers side. Now draw a line though the rear end and put an angle finder on it and it should rear positive 3 degrees if veiwed from the drvers side. Now if you were to measure those 2 "imaginary" lines that you drew they would be parrallel to each other, making the angles equal but opposite angles.

so i red through the link that was posted and pretty sure i got it figured out, just wanted to share what i came up with and make sure its right.

tranny points down -7
first shaft points down -4
7-4= 3 degree which is first operating angle

2nd shaft points up 5 /first shaft points down 4 / and both toghter and i get 9 degrees which is 2nd operating angle.

if i take first operating angle and subtract 2nd operating angle from it and i get 6 degrees. which is what i need between 2nd shaft and pinon.

so the pinon should point up 1 degree. 2nd shaft is 5+1= 6 degree, or point pinon down 11 degrees. 2nd shaft is 5-11=6 degree

so if all this is right i still might have a probablem. pinon should be pointing down 11 degrees but right now it's only pointing down 7 degrees so if i change it to 11 won't that throw the degree off on the 2nd shaft and change everything? not sure what to do?

i did all this with truck set up at ride height and it has a existing 4-link in it.

let me know what u think, thanks.

i think i know how set set pinon at -11 degrees if everything above is right. if i take off 2nd shaft from pinon and keep it at 5 degrees then rotate pinon down to 11 degrees tack axle houseing to bottom of c notch and blot driveline back on, and everything should be set? right? then i can start on new 4-link.

whatever... that doesnt' make sense. if they are both pointing the exact same direction on the same plane(parallel to each other), both up in the front they how can they be equal but opposite? they are the same... both up at 3 degrees in the front. the operating angles could be considered opposite i suppose, but since there really aren't any negative degrees they would also be the same degree.
equal but opposite would be one up in the front the other down in the front, but at the same degree.

don't set your pinion at 11 degrees down dude. thats extreme. make it one degree up. come on man don't you think that 11 degrees just looks wrong?