By the numbers that you showed you started with a positive 5 degress. You will need to adjust the pinion down towards the grounda couple degrees then remeasure. You want a total of -2 to -3 degrees total. If you want to give me a call i can explain the process to you over the phone.
if you adjusted your pinion angle, come in!
- Thread starter rojizostang
- Start date
i keep getting mixed on where to measure this thing?
some say input output shaft, but in the youtube vid for stang tv, they measure where i have the arrows?
so is where i have marked the correct places to measure?
some say input output shaft, but in the youtube vid for stang tv, they measure where i have the arrows?
so is where i have marked the correct places to measure?
cool, i've got some noise on my d/s after the install. car is lowered with ultra lites.
when letting off or coming to a complete stop, it makes noise, i couldn't get it on the alignment rack with the skinnies today.
we let out the upper link some and it got better, i need to get it completely dialed in still though
went out to the garage and jacked the rear up, only way to get an accurate measurement right now
the flange was 7.6 and the shaft was 2.2 both the same angle (cuz it's jacked up) so i'm still at about a 5.5, i measured it 3 times and was within .2 or so each time
my rear is just about perfectly centered, so tomorrow, i guess i'll let the top out a tad and bring the bottom in a tad and that should do the trick. and keep it centered
the flange was 7.6 and the shaft was 2.2 both the same angle (cuz it's jacked up) so i'm still at about a 5.5, i measured it 3 times and was within .2 or so each time
my rear is just about perfectly centered, so tomorrow, i guess i'll let the top out a tad and bring the bottom in a tad and that should do the trick. and keep it centered
Wow. 5.5 is a lot. Most U and CV joints have a range of motion of only about 8 to 12 degrees at 3000 RPM (or about 60 mph). You are outside the normal operating angle when the car is at it's centered ride hight. When you hit bumps, it's just getting worse from there.
I hope you haven't put to many miles on it. I can imagine driving 3k - 5k miles like that would lead to needing to have the joints replaced.
I hope you haven't put to many miles on it. I can imagine driving 3k - 5k miles like that would lead to needing to have the joints replaced.
just 2 days ago is when the d/s went on, got about 30 miles on it. hopefully get it dialed in tonight.
RONAELEGT550R
forum member
that doesn't sound like your true angles. You have to make sure the weight of the car is on the wheels. Put ramps under all 4. If you just suspend the rear it will not read right. The front weight is destributed throughout the frame and it effects the rear. If you are at 5.5 you will have problems. 3deg is pretty much the maximum angles you want to run. U-joints are designed to run at 3deg or less. More than 3 will cause failure earlier and it can cause vibrations as well.
we adjusted it tonight to 1.6, that was with just the rear suspended. the car won't go on the alignment rack, the car definately had a lot of angle when we first got under it.
all the noise from clutching, stopping and driving is gone. i'm going to try to get some boards so we can get it on the alignment rack to make sure it's exact, but it looked pretty good
oh, and i knew they weren't true angles with the rear being suspended, but the goal was the difference in the 2 angles
RONAELEGT550R
forum member
NastyStang113
Made in U.S.A.
Anyone recording how long their UCA is? I'm curious to see if there is much variance between cars.
danbev07
Road Course Junkie
If I remember correctly I believe I set mine to 1/4" shorter in length than the stock UCA (center-to-center) to achieve exactly -2*.
I have pro-kit springs all around and fixed-length J&M LCAs.
Ken04
gm troll basher
I preset mine to 8 5/16" per Steeda's suggestion for a lowered car. I bought stangsuspension springs expecting a full 2" drop but it was actually 1.5" so I had to extend the uca 1 full turn to get to -3.
With Steeda Sport Springs I set my UCA length at 8.36" as recommend in the Steeda instructions for UCA P/N 555-4105.
can you guys tell me what angle finder you guys are using or better yet what part of the car are you getting your measurements from.i have a swanson angle finder from lowes and if i look at the angles from the passenger side of the car i get +4 on the shaft and -1 on the pinnion but if i go to the driver side and look at it is -4 on the shaft and +1 on the pinnion.
luillo
forum member
your car is lowered????
after going crazy with this angle stuff i decided to call two of my friends with auto gts and fully stock cars and headed out to a drive on lift.this is what i came back with.
with a swanson angle finder from lowes and getting the readings from the driver side of the car on both cars this is what i get.
1) both cars engine and transmission is -3 degrees down.including mines.
2)the driveshaft was at -5 on both cars.mines is -3 since i have the 165r15 tires in the front with the racestars wich are smaller in diameter.
3)the pinnion was -3 degrees pointing up not down towards the ground.mines was at 0
i know in my car when i put the stock wheels on i get a -5 in the driveshaft since i have try that before.so basically all three cars with stock wheels came from ford with a -5 on the driveshaft side closest to the pinnion and -3 on the pinnion pointing up toward the car not down toward the floor.
im gonna give this a try tomorrow to see if it helps and ill report back to you guys.
with a swanson angle finder from lowes and getting the readings from the driver side of the car on both cars this is what i get.
1) both cars engine and transmission is -3 degrees down.including mines.
2)the driveshaft was at -5 on both cars.mines is -3 since i have the 165r15 tires in the front with the racestars wich are smaller in diameter.
3)the pinnion was -3 degrees pointing up not down towards the ground.mines was at 0
i know in my car when i put the stock wheels on i get a -5 in the driveshaft since i have try that before.so basically all three cars with stock wheels came from ford with a -5 on the driveshaft side closest to the pinnion and -3 on the pinnion pointing up toward the car not down toward the floor.
im gonna give this a try tomorrow to see if it helps and ill report back to you guys.
SoundGuyDave
This Space For Rent
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Guys, check me on this, but this really isn't that complicated... What you're really trying to measure is the net pinion angle relative to the trans output shaft. Forget about measuring on the driveshaft itself, there is some eccentricity as the joints turn over... Set the car flat on a drive-up lift, or get in an oil-change pit, so that the weight and suspension loading is "normal".
All measurements will be made on the flat of the trans output shaft and pinion input shaft flanges, and will be expressed in degrees from vertical. If the flange is tipped up, then it'll be a positive number, if perfectly vertical, it'll be "zero" degrees, and if tipped down, it'll be a negative number.
Step one: measure the angle of the trans output shaft flange. Most likely, it'll be around -3*, so tipped slightly downward. If the rear of the car is lowered more than the front, that angle will be slightly higher, but the absolute value is really unimportant, just the deviation from vertical.
Step two: measure the angle of the pinion input shaft flange the same way. Most likely, it'll be tipped slightly upwards, showing a positive number.
Step three: ADD the two numbers together. THIS is your net pinion angle. If there was no rear suspension, i.e. the rear was fixed, you'd want a ZERO pinion angle, with both flanges perfectly parallel to each other. However, since there IS a suspension for the rear axle, you'll want to "preload" the shaft slightly. When you step on the gas, the pinion will tend to rotate upwards, into a more positive angle, so you want to set the pinion angle slightly negative from parallel to compensate for the angular change. Since stick-shift cars tend to "launch" harder, you want an extra half-degree or so to compensate for that. If you have all rod-ends in the suspension, bushing deflection will be negligible, so you would reduce the amount of "preload" applied.
The whole idea is to distribute the joint angle (axis of the output or pinion shaft relative to the axis of the driveshaft itself) evenly between the two ends. The more angle there is, the more stress is applied to the joint, which is one of the reason that pickups with lift kits chew through U-joints faster than a stock-height truck. If the two shaft axes are parallel, then the angle is perfectly even at each end. Since maximum stress is delivered under acceleration, that's why we attempt to pre-load the angle slightly, so that under a hard launch, you GET a parallelism between the shaft axes.
Does all that make sense?
All measurements will be made on the flat of the trans output shaft and pinion input shaft flanges, and will be expressed in degrees from vertical. If the flange is tipped up, then it'll be a positive number, if perfectly vertical, it'll be "zero" degrees, and if tipped down, it'll be a negative number.
Step one: measure the angle of the trans output shaft flange. Most likely, it'll be around -3*, so tipped slightly downward. If the rear of the car is lowered more than the front, that angle will be slightly higher, but the absolute value is really unimportant, just the deviation from vertical.
Step two: measure the angle of the pinion input shaft flange the same way. Most likely, it'll be tipped slightly upwards, showing a positive number.
Step three: ADD the two numbers together. THIS is your net pinion angle. If there was no rear suspension, i.e. the rear was fixed, you'd want a ZERO pinion angle, with both flanges perfectly parallel to each other. However, since there IS a suspension for the rear axle, you'll want to "preload" the shaft slightly. When you step on the gas, the pinion will tend to rotate upwards, into a more positive angle, so you want to set the pinion angle slightly negative from parallel to compensate for the angular change. Since stick-shift cars tend to "launch" harder, you want an extra half-degree or so to compensate for that. If you have all rod-ends in the suspension, bushing deflection will be negligible, so you would reduce the amount of "preload" applied.
The whole idea is to distribute the joint angle (axis of the output or pinion shaft relative to the axis of the driveshaft itself) evenly between the two ends. The more angle there is, the more stress is applied to the joint, which is one of the reason that pickups with lift kits chew through U-joints faster than a stock-height truck. If the two shaft axes are parallel, then the angle is perfectly even at each end. Since maximum stress is delivered under acceleration, that's why we attempt to pre-load the angle slightly, so that under a hard launch, you GET a parallelism between the shaft axes.
Does all that make sense?
luillo
forum member
sounds great but i tough that if my transmission flange is -2.5 and my Pinion flange is -.5 i should subtract those number to = -2.0 angle
Also if i had -2.5 at transmission flange and +2.0 then = -4.0
I am confused i tough equal symbols i had to subtract them (-1)+(-1)= 0
and different i had add them (-1)+(+2)= +3
please correct me.....
Last edited:
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