Now drive shaft angle

I’m close but let’s see what you all think.
Trans angle- 4.5* down from front to back (measured on end of output shaft, crank bolt shows engine at 2.5* down in back)
Rear pinion angle- 4.1* down in the nose
Trans output shaft 2” higher than rear pinion
This calculates to about 0.5* drive shaft angle. The trans/drive shaft angle about 4.0*. The pinion/drive shaft angle about 4.6*.

I don't give a hoot about the trans output shaft angle, as long as the front U joint is not aligned perfectly with it that is Which from your description it is not
I look hard at the angle between the pinion shaft and the rear of the drive shaft angle, I like to see a V at the pinion yoke with 2 to 7 degrees difference with the pinion pointed down towards the ground or parallel to the ground , not pointed up towards the tranny yoke
IHTHs

Got a smart phone?


http://www.tremec.com/menu.php?m=154

Oh man, I love a good pinion angle thread.

So just to get the ball rolling you didn't mention what kind of suspension you are working on.

So, how did you measure the pinion angle?
Where was the angle finder positioned when you found the 4.1 degrees?
Was there weight on the rear axle, or was it hanging from the springs?

This is what I've always done too, but more like 2-4 degrees "V" for me in back & also, no exactly straight from u-joint angle like Cab mentioned, all for leaf spring suspension.

Yes leaf spring. Suspension loaded. Angle finder on front of pinion. I appreciate the hard work going on here. What throws curves into things is the axle has been lowered two inches.

Trans angle- 4.5* down from front to back (measured on end of output shaft, crank bolt shows engine at 2.5* down in back)
Rear pinion angle- 4.1* down in the nose
Trans output shaft 2” higher than rear pinion
This calculates to about 0.5* drive shaft angle. The trans/drive shaft angle about 4.0*. The pinion/drive shaft angle about 4.6*. [/quote]
How can the engine and trans be at different anngles? The way you have it worded is the trans and pinion both point down towards the drive shaft. Am I reading this right. If so it's way off.
Doug

If your angle finder is facing towards the back on the trans output shaft, and it is facing forward on the front of the pinion, you may want to check your numbers again. To get accurate numbers, the angle finder needs to be facing the same direction on both ends, or your measuring one of your angles from the wrong direction. Gene

Ok let’s try this. The angle finder used is digital. It compensates for opposite facing surfaces.
I would not put a lot of stock in the crank angle because it was coming off the bolt head. The best numbers are out put shaft and pinion. The pinion is definitely nose down over 4*. I shimmed up the tail shaft and reduced that angle of trans to less than 3*. The driveshaft has been ordered based on the trans joint angle will be around 2*. The pinion angle is now closer to 6.5*. The trans is clear up into the tunnel and cannot go any farther without interference. HIt looks right.

In the future you can use your angle finder on the end of thetranny output shaft if you want to know that angle
On finding the pinion angle on machined pinion yokes you can turn it so the outside edge of the pinion yoke is aligned with the ground and use that surface to find that angle
I measure the pinion angle their and the driveshaft angle on the bottom side of the driveshaft so I have the zero degrees on the angle finder pointed upwards and go from there, one of the older units I have has 90 degrees straight up and measure the same numbers both ways from straight up
When I would use that one a long time ago I would add or subtract the two angles to get the total differences, IE 88 degrees on the driveshaft and 93 degrees on the pinion shaft angle, subtract 88 from 93 for five degrees difference If I used that angle finder on top it would read 88 one way and 87 the other way so I had to add the differences from 90 degrees to get the total angle, 87 subtracted from 90=3, + 88-90=2, add 2+3=5
Remember that between 3 and 7 degrees difference on a leaf spring car, no Cal Tracs or any other traction bar systems like that, your good. I did set one of my old street automatic cars up with 7 degrees and it would make driveshaft noise(rear u joint to much down angle when deacceleration, when I let off on the other end I ended adding a 2 degree shim on the front side of the springs to reduce the angle to 5 degrees difference and that made that noise go away
Another way is to measure off the U joint caps on the Detroit type U joints from the bottom of each one pointed straight down, you do need the car on jack stands under the rear end housing so the chassis is loaded like it is on the ground so you can rotate the driveshaft to measure off both the pinion cap and driveshaft caps

This is always good to look at. Ron

www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/axle/8.html

I don’t have the drive shaft yet. This is all in prep to obtain the length and order it. I am converting this car from an A/T to a manual.

Ron, I do have the tech article from a long time ago. Thanks. Just not having the drive shaft yet was different challenge.

This is actually the second conversion on this car. It was originally a 318/904 combo and I converted it to a 5.9 Mag/A500. Got bored with that and now I am converting it to a TKO600.

I appreciate everyone’s input. It’s a big help.