what should the Pinion angle be at ride height be ? should it be level with the drive train . i am sectioning my body . this is going to be my ride height at ride height i believe it will be almost in line with the ****** , i dont know yet
Are you using an early Ford torque tube rearend/driveline? If so, it will be whatever it ends up being. No adjustment in that other than wheel/tire diameter or powertrain height in ch***is. However, if you are using and open drive, driveshaft with u-joints at both ends, the ride height has nothing to do with pinion angle. The theory is, an imaginary line through the center of the engine crankshaft/trans output shaft should be parallel with an imaginary line through the pinion gear shaft in the rear end. It can be offset up, down or sideways and as long as they are parallel, the u-joints work properly. You can determine that with an angle finder, available at any Home depot type store, if you don't have one already. Most engines are mounted with about a 3* slope down at the rear. In that case, the pinion shaft should be sloped upward, at the front, the same amount. That will produce the parallelism desired. Some people will tell you to put the pinion down a degree or two or three to allow for axle 'wrap' on acceleration.........I, and many others, disagree with that view, as the axle wrap, if any, is brief, and the rest of the time the angle you build in is what it is running. So, with that in mind, setting it correctly in the first place makes the most sense. Ray
http://www.carcraft.com/howto/91758/index.html http://www.hotrodheaven.com/tech/ch***is/engineangle.htm
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