Hi guys and gals,
Been a while since I've been on here. Did a search and found a few answers, but a question lingers about what's an acceptable angle between differential pinion and trans output shaft for a cruiser. RR has a TK500 swap. With the driveshaft perfectly level (0 angle, weight-on-wheels), the trans output shaft is 2.9 degrees tail down. The trans is as high in the tunnel as I can get it. And the nose of the differential pinion shaft centerline is 0.9 degrees down toward the front. Therefore total angle is 3.6 degrees. The car is cruiser; will never see track or strip time. Haven't driven it yet, as other issues arose. Should I be looking for some 2 degree shims to put under the perches to bring the nose on the diff up a bit? 2 degrees would get the nose of the diff up and bring the centerlines of the trans and diff closer to, but of course not, parallel (around 1.6 degrees). What's an allowable difference to have for a street driver? Also, along the lines of shims, what manufacturers shims will work under the factory perches with MP XHD (factory, basically) springs? Summit shows Pro-Comp 99-400B, Calvert CLV-4-DEGREE, Beltech BEL-4977 , and Rubicon Re1466 shim sets. Is there one of those sets that works best with Mopar springs and perches?
Thanks for any knowledge you can impart.
-Marq
The desire is for the tranny angle downward (3 degrees max) and the pinion angle upwards with both being on fairly parallel planes of each other and the driveshaft having a 1 degree minimum to 3 degree maximum defection measured at each joint UNDER ACCELERATION not in static mode on a leaf sprung vehicle, keep in mind the pinion can/will rotate upwards of up to 5 degrees UNDER ACCELERATION there are lots of variables that determine how much it will rotate upwards, that being said I think your current angles are a fine starting point, drive the car, see if any driveline vibration is present in acceleration or de-acceleration mode, then shim if necessary to fine tune your driveline angle due to possible driveline vibration.... chances are you'll be raising the pinion nose 1 or 2 degrees, but hold off until you've driven it
My 70 Charger with a TKO600 has a 2 degree down on the tranny and had a 1.5 degree nose down on the DANA 60 pinion in "stock" configuration, I added a 2 degree shim to raise the pinion nose upward, but these are the parameters on MY car due to suspension mods/ride height, each vehicle will have it's own variables based on ride height, and types of suspension/axle mods, etc, etc
FYI....when troubleshooting any driveline angle induced vibration, raise the pinion nose for UNDER ACCELERATION vibration and lower the nose for DE-ACCELRATION vibration....I would do so 1 degree at a time....as for a mfg recommendation on shims if needed, I used the Mopar Performance shims, no mods/zero issues, just keep an eye on the alignment leaf pin that you have plenty to align/engage the axle perch hole properly when adding a shim....
MikeG
