if you adjusted your pinion angle, come in!

if i'm not mistaken, your car isn't lowered...i'm going out on a limb, i really don't think you have a pinion angle issue.

my personal opinion is that the pinion angle issue is overstated anyway.

i think you have a bad driveshaft, it should be replaced or rebalanced, which you probably can't get done where you are.

rojizostang said:

if i'm not mistaken, your car isn't lowered...i'm going out on a limb, i really don't think you have a pinion angle issue.

my personal opinion is that the pinion angle issue is overstated anyway.

i think you have a bad driveshaft, it should be replaced or rebalanced, which you probably can't get done where you are.

Click to expand...

now this is bad news, i guess...

any other opinions before i contact the vendor ?
& yeah my car isnt lowered, all mods are in my sig

I'm gonna sticky this. Lets keep the list going with mods done so people have a starting point when they set up their cars.

oman_cobra said:

now this is bad news, i guess...

any other opinions before i contact the vendor ?
& yeah my car isnt lowered, all mods are in my sig

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a lot of guys are really happy with their 1 piece aluminum drive shafts. I'm happy with mine now, after trying three different shafts and having the last one rebalanced by a different shop. if i had it to do over again, i'm not sure that i would.

in fact, the shop that rebalanced mine and finally got it pretty good, actually tried making custom one piece shafts on a couple of different s197 mustangs, and they finally gave up because they couldn't come up with one that for them was acceptable.

if you can contact thrash drive shaft specialists in san antonio, they might be able to help you out, if your original vendor isn't willing to exchange your drive shaft for you. i'll see if i can post a link for the shop that re-did mine.

edit: here's the link
http://www.thrashdriveshaft.com/

rojizostang said:

if i'm not mistaken, your car isn't lowered...i'm going out on a limb, i really don't think you have a pinion angle issue.

my personal opinion is that the pinion angle issue is overstated anyway.

i think you have a bad driveshaft, it should be replaced or rebalanced, which you probably can't get done where you are.

Click to expand...

It doesn't matter if the car is lowered or not. You are going from a 2 pc to a 1 pc. Your pinion angle both at the tranny and at the rear are now changed.

The pinion angle at the tranny went from zero deg to some angle. The pinion angle at the rear has been changed now that the center bearing has been removed, so now the rear (and possibly the trans) now need to be adjusted to comp for the change in angles.

Here are some generic troubleshooting steps for driveline issues... http://iihs.net/fsm/?dir=76&viewfile=Driveline System.pdf

not to disagree or be argumentative, but, going to a one piece drive shaft decreases the pinion angle, also lowering the car decreases the pinion angle. if you follow what most people say, the closer to zero the angle, the better. that's why i tend to think that the pinion angle adjustment and how it relates to drive shaft vibe is overstated, when going to a 1 piece shaft and/or lowering. i'll use my own case as an example...i'm still running all the stock control arms, haven't adjusted the pinion, and the car is lowered. rebalancing the drive shaft fixed the vibe.

it's just an opinion and i'm speaking only about my own experience, and i certainly don't claim to be an expert. this is the reason i started this thread, to ask for actual experience from people who have adjusted the angles, what difference it made, and what the settings are/were. as of yet, imho we really don't have any hard numbers or facts to work from to determine what angles and settings actually effect drive shaft vibe, which was the original purpose for this thread.

KIMMER said:

I'm gonna sticky this. Lets keep the list going with mods done so people have a starting point when they set up their cars.

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thanks, i know this thread will help me ALOT

but im positive that the driveshaft i recieved was fine, the shop that replaced the stock one with the new spydershaft did the same with many mustangs, especially S197's (but i was the 1st to bring a spydershaft) & he said this one fits perfectly unlike the others...

but now, im seeing those other customers dont have any complains, unlike me !

will go to the shop today & check if its allinged / installed well & let you guys know..

& marcspaz, can i get a downloadable version of the pdf link you posted ??

thanks a million

rojizostang said:

in fact, the shop that rebalanced mine and finally got it pretty good,

edit: here's the link
http://www.thrashdriveshaft.com/

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What does "pretty good' mean? Are you still getting vibrations? Mine is smooth up to 120mph. Looking at sending it to a shop to get it checked out/re-balanced but I can't find any around here, so I'll have to mail it somewhere.

scramblr said:

What does "pretty good' mean? Are you still getting vibrations? Mine is smooth up to 120mph. Looking at sending it to a shop to get it checked out/re-balanced but I can't find any around here, so I'll have to mail it somewhere.

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no vibrations, there is a very slight buzzing noise at 80 mph only. in fact it's so slight, i doubt anyone else would notice it except for me.

i finally got my adj lca's, if i get a chance this weekend, i'll install them and try different adjustments to see if it makes any difference as far as the buzzing noise is concerned.

i've run the car in its current set up up to about 120 with no vibrations. the shop that rebalanced mine charged $59. I think they did a really good job on it, however they won't guarantee it to eliminate the vibes as they didn't have much luck when building their own custom shafts for the s197's. they do a lot of custom hot rod stuff, as you can see if you check their website.

Thanks for the info. 120mph is my magic number now. Hell, for under $100 labor and $50 shipping both ways it may be worth trying. Took a 3 hour round trip drive today and it's frustrating limiting my speed below 120mph. Almost worth putting the stock DS on until I go back to the states.

scramblr said:

Thanks for the info. 120mph is my magic number now. Hell, for under $100 labor and $50 shipping both ways it may be worth trying. Took a 3 hour round trip drive today and it's frustrating limiting my speed below 120mph. Almost worth putting the stock DS on until I go back to the states.

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i haven't read all the post completely....i notice you have an ajd uca...what is your experience with adjusting the pinion angle? where did you start, where did you stop, and did it help?

Three driveshafts, two companies, gone everywhere from +2 to -3 and one pinion seal. I'm at -1.5 right now with the 3rd DS and as previously mentioned, the hum at 80mph is gone and vibrations now start at 120mph where before they started at 105mph.

If I was in the States I know I wouldn't give a shift, but I've got 3 1/2 more years here and limiting my speed to 120 just plain sucks. I'm going to call that company in SA right now and see what they say.

**Edit: Just spoke with Craig at http://www.thrashdriveshaft.com/. Of course said no guarantees, but he'll check it out for around $60, so that's worth it. Sending it to him on Monday.

rojizostang said:

not to disagree or be argumentative, but,

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NBD, just trying to help...

rojizostang said:

going to a one piece drive shaft decreases the pinion angle, also lowering the car decreases the pinion angle. if you follow what most people say, the closer to zero the angle, the better. that's why i tend to think that the pinion angle adjustment and how it relates to drive shaft vibe is overstated, when going to a 1 piece shaft and/or lowering. i'll use my own case as an example...i'm still running all the stock control arms, haven't adjusted the pinion, and the car is lowered. rebalancing the drive shaft fixed the vibe.

it's just an opinion and i'm speaking only about my own experience, and i certainly don't claim to be an expert. this is the reason i started this thread, to ask for actual experience from people who have adjusted the angles, what difference it made, and what the settings are/were. as of yet, imho we really don't have any hard numbers or facts to work from to determine what angles and settings actually effect drive shaft vibe, which was the original purpose for this thread.

Click to expand...

I guess you may have misunderstood what I was trying to say. Replacing the stock DS with a 1 pc does reduce the pinion angle at the rear, but it creates an angle were one did not exist at the tranny. Also, lowering the car does not decrease the pinion angle, it increases it slightly. Our rears do not move straight up and down with travel. The nose of the pinion gear starts to tilt down as the rear moves up deeper into the body.

It is going to be very hard to find someone to give you usable numbers. Someone would have to have success with the exact same DS and suspension setup as you in order to get good info. As you go from brand to brand, the operating angle of U-joints and DS lobes vary. As I mentioned earlier, the stock DS has an operating angle of 11-12 deg, vs the custom DS on my off-road Jeep has an operating angle of 120 deg.

With my stock DS I had a bad vibration at +3 at 25 and anything over 55-60. Now, at a shade less than +2.5, it is gone.

Like others have mentioned, I would get the DS of your choice balanced (I recommend one from Ron) and adjust your PA .5* at a time until it's smooth.

You man never get it perfect. The DS on these cars are too long which is why Ford made the 2pc. Until someone comes out with an ultra-lite 2pc AL DS, I think we are screwed...

marcspaz said:

You man never get it perfect....., I think we are screwed...

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now this i agree with!

maybe this thread will be useful to someone in the long run, who knows.

in the end, i'm finally happy with my drive shaft, after much ado.

scramblr said:

Three driveshafts, two companies, gone everywhere from +2 to -3 and one pinion seal. I'm at -1.5 right now with the 3rd DS and as previously mentioned, the hum at 80mph is gone and vibrations now start at 120mph where before they started at 105mph.

If I was in the States I know I wouldn't give a shift, but I've got 3 1/2 more years here and limiting my speed to 120 just plain sucks. I'm going to call that company in SA right now and see what they say.

**Edit: Just spoke with Craig at http://www.thrashdriveshaft.com/. Of course said no guarantees, but he'll check it out for around $60, so that's worth it. Sending it to him on Monday.

Click to expand...

they have a good rep here in san antonio....i hope it works out for you.

edit: i talked to billy when they did mine...actually, i never reported to them the success that i had after they rebalanced my drive shaft, so they may have been somewhat surprised to hear about all this. fwiw.....i don't have any sort of relationship with them, other than the one job they did for me

marcspaz said:

NBD, just trying to help...
Also, lowering the car does not decrease the pinion angle, it increases it slightly. Our rears do not move straight up and down with travel. The nose of the pinion gear starts to tilt down as the rear moves up deeper into the body.

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i'd like to talk about this idea again for a minute. respectfully, i think this idea is mistaken. steeda sells a non adjustable uca that is slightly shorter than stock, designed to increase the pinion angle (pumpkin tipped down) on a lowered car because the pinion angle decreases (pumpkin tips up) with lowering. check this link:


http://www.steeda.com/products/tubular_upper_3rd_link.php

this to me causes a little more confusion regarding pinion angles and drive shaft vibe. the local shops i've spoken to about angles and how the angles relate to drive shaft vibe don't put much stock in the idea....except to say there's about a six degree range that they try to stay inside of.

again, according to the local shops, not my idea, drive shaft vibe becomes a problem usually only with lifted 4wd vehicles that have very severe angles.

we just got the "shaft" with our cars because the mustang s197's are taken from a lincoln platform, not sure which one, which utilizes this two piece drive shaft design, made for ride comfort and not performance.

These drive shaft vibs you guys have or had were they on the gas or off or both and it only has to do with speed?

I get a hum at 75 then it goes away for a while but my main one is decelerating from 105 to 90ish. I havent even attempted anything over 120. Finally have access to a lift and some tools so I'm going to try one more pinion adjustment before I call the shaft bad.

05stroker said:

These drive shaft vibs you guys have or had were they on the gas or off or both and it only has to do with speed?

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mine was just at speed 80mph and up

i installed adjustable lca's and relocation brackets today and set the angle at -2 at the rear, and really can't feel any vibes...of course i already had eliminated them after the latest rebalancing job

i ran the car up to about 130 and really couldn't discern any vibes...but...when i slowed down i got a little vibe, but i was also on the brakes pretty hard, so it's hard to tell if there was a ds vibe or not. if it was a ds vibe it was probably because of the pinion going pretty negative upon heavy breaking from speed

i'm still at my original angles after installing the adj lca's, +1 in the front and -2 in the rear, with the suspension weighted, of course

ok, i have another case for you guys, a friend of mine has a 06 GT, it has lowering springs as for the suspension is involved..

under the hood, its whippled, full exhuast, etc...

now his car has a light weight driveshaft from RPMoutlet (i know he shouldnt have bought from them )
http://www.rpmoutlet.com/05gtfordgear.htm

& he's not saying he has vibes, but when he pushes the car hard, he can feel the shaft moves up & hits something & makes a crack noise

so is his problem solved (since its supercharged) when installing a DS safety loop ?? & if so, which loop is the best ??

im usually ordering for the guys from Lethal Performance http://www.lethalperformance.com/pa...stang-gt-driveline-driveshafts-and-loops.html

top notch site with awsome customer service