pinion angle

Originally posted by sadisticiron



depending on how the link is set up depends on hoew the pinion is set of a triditional parallel 4 links you would want as close to zero as possible. but for a link set up for lift you want the rear end to follow the trans output shaft the best way possible and setting it up with a -5 degrees layed out provides the rear end with the right amount of pinion change to acheive this. theres a reason why my setups and other who practice this rule of thunb never have a problem with vibration

that is similar to how my 2link setup is, -4degrees layed out, 3degrees full lift...i have no vibration, maybe i'm one of those oddballs with 2links and no vibration and still have good u-joints for 1 year daily driving now

from layed out to full lift, i have no vibration at any speeds, only vibration im getting is from a slightly warped flywheel and misaligned tires lol

but these are good info from both of you, im not taking anyone's side...just stating my own experience

sorry when i drew it up it was alot bigger but anyways it shows the tranny pointing down -2 degrees, then the front shaft angled up +3 degrees, then the rear shaft up another +3 degrees, then the rear pinion pointing up +2 degrees. im trying to comprehend what you mean by "working angles".

Originally posted by aftershock



Originally posted by sadisticiron



depending on how the link is set up depends on hoew the pinion is set of a triditional parallel 4 links you would want as close to zero as possible. but for a link set up for lift you want the rear end to follow the trans output shaft the best way possible and setting it up with a -5 degrees layed out provides the rear end with the right amount of pinion change to acheive this. theres a reason why my setups and other who practice this rule of thunb never have a problem with vibration

that is similar to how my 2link setup is, -4degrees layed out, 3degrees full lift...i have no vibration, maybe i'm one of those oddballs with 2links and no vibration and still have good u-joints for 1 year daily driving now

from layed out to full lift, i have no vibration at any speeds, only vibration im getting is from a slightly warped flywheel and misaligned tires lol

but these are good info from both of you, im not taking anyone's side...just stating my own experience

mark ive never had a prob out of mine either. my pinion angle barly changes.

Edited: 11/3/2005 10:03:29 AM by sadexcuse4s10

you're not alone guys

my 2 links is daily driven with pretty much the same angles, doesn't vibrate or wear U joints either

30k miles a year with no problems other than cops

Originally posted by bdroppeddak



sorry when i drew it up it was alot bigger but anyways it shows the tranny pointing down -2 degrees, then the front shaft angled up +3 degrees, then the rear shaft up another +3 degrees, then the rear pinion pointing up +2 degrees. im trying to comprehend what you mean by "working angles".

The operating or working angles is the angle through the joint. For your case, it would be the tranny down 2 degrees and the front shaft up 3 degrees, so the operating angle would be 5 (assuming it is straight looking from the top) You are trying to get more than 1/2 degree but less than 3, so that combo is out of range. If that was my truck I would either raise the tail of the transmission with a spacer, or if room permited, lower the carrier crossmember.

Oh and Chris, this is one of the reasons people automatically set pinions to 3 degrees. Spicer specs out 3 degrees but for operating angle of their u-joint. People assume the operating angle is measured from the pinions only. The other reason is if you ask any "old timer" what to set your pinion at they will always set it down 3 degrees or so. The reason for that is most of them are using leaf springs and on a hard launch or under acceleration the rear end pinion wants to climb the ring gear (otherwise known as axle wrap) so they anticipate this and purposely set the pinion off at rest so when it climbs it will straighten out to the correct operating angle.

andy,
i know you said cris's angles are out of spec, but if it were. what would you set the rear pinion angle to?

Originally posted by 86IsuzuPup



andy,i know you said cris's angles are out of spec, but if it were. what would you set the rear pinion angle to?

If it were, the rear pinion is set correctly at -2. He probably wouldn't get any vibrations either. There are a couple things you are after though. One is to cancel out vibration, which that setup would accomplish. The second is to reduce wear. That setup has two problems in the area of wear. The first problem is the one I already mentioned with the front operating angle being 5, which will increase the wear on the u-joint (Yes, I know people driving thousands of miles without problems. Chances are you will get away with it for awhile, but if your going to set it up, I'd rather explain the "ideal") The second problem is his carrier. He has pretty much drawn a single shaft since both of them share the same angle. The problem there, which is actually the lessor of the two is there is zero degrees of operating angle at the u-joint coming off the splined slip yoke (carrier bearing) U-joints rotate on bearings, however, if the joint is comletely straight the bearing won't rotate and it will ride on the same spot. This will cause localized wear. Once again I know this probably won't turn up as a problem for years, especially because it won't be rotating setup like that, but I'd rather you guys know what it should be in a perfect world with naked girls handing you beers under your trucks.

Shit, I better say this now before everyone gets confused. I said it is correctly setup at -2 when his drawing says +2. If the tranny is set at -2 the pinion should be at the same angle. The reason for the (-) is to indicate to people the surface they are measuring so the pinion up or down, but if you picture the whole thing from the side they are parallel so I just reference how many degrees from level. So, +2 or -2 what ever floats your boat.

thats the thing i want to have it perfect, with right angles and naked chicks, so i should measure the working angle, by going with what the tranny is pointing to, and what angle the driveshaft is pointing at? so measure off the end of the tranny, then on the driveshaft, add the 2 together, and there is the total working angle at that joint???