Hot Rods drive shaft %

i realize this has been discussed many times setting angle of shaft ..... But ... can i recheck angle by just checking drive shaft installed ?

 

Driveline angle is measured from transmission output shaft to driveshaft, and driveshaft to pinion angle. The actual angle of the driveshaft itself doesn't matter. It's relationship to the pinion and transmission are the critical angle. Ideally you want more then zero but less then three degrees of U-JOINT working angle.
Don't measure off the carburetor flange, it has angle built into it, measure off oil pan rail of engine or transmission, or the actual output shaft of the transmission. At the rear you can measure off most pinion flanges or U-JOINT caps.

 

There are u-joint angles, and driveshaft slope. Both matter.

You can measure both with it installed.

 

That Tremec app for your phone works pretty good. So does a simple angle finder though.
You want the trans output shaft and the pinion shaft parallel to each other, that is the main thing.


I don't think that there are too many hot rods or customs where the owner has to get very excited about the actual degrees of angle of the U joints unlike the Jacked up 4x4 brigade. Generally if you stay within 1 to 3 degrees life is good, go beyond that and it cuts down on the life expectancy of the U joints.

There is a real good article by a drive shaft dude here https://4xshaft.com/blogs/general-tech-info-articles/driveshaft-angles He is talking 4x4 but it still applies.