what kind of tool do you use to check pinion angle? whats the procedure?
Craftsman has a angle guage that works fairly well. It has a magnetic strip on it too. Not very expensive. I have a few digital guages that measure down to the 10th but they were all over $150.
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It is my understanding that if you have a 1 piece drive shaft the pinion angle is measured differently. It is measured from the inside of the pinion flange to the tranny flange. Is this correct?
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Airraid CAI/BAMA tune,moto blue pullies,3:73`s,LPW girdle;Powerhouse DS,CHE safety loop,CHE LCA`S & Adjustable UCA,Kooks LT`S & O/R X Pipe,prothane MM`s,Steeda CMDP`S,Eibach springs,Tokico D specs,Polished TB(by Me),Steeda radiator support,MT DR`S,Zex kit 100 shot. Taylor Relocation batter kit and cut off switch
11:933 ET, 1.674 60`,111.877 MPH 5600 feet above sea level 6900 D/A
It is my understanding that if you have a 1 piece drive shaft the pinion angle is measured differently. It is measured from the inside of the pinion flange to the tranny flange. Is this correct?
It doesn't matter where you measure it as long as what you are measuring will give you the angle difference between the pinion centerline and the axle centerline.
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Under Construction. Better, Stronger, Faster than it was before.
It doesn't matter where you measure it as long as what you are measuring will give you the angle difference between the pinion centerline and the axle centerline.
Sqidd Do you have a 1 piece drive shaft and if so what is your pinion angle set at?
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Airraid CAI/BAMA tune,moto blue pullies,3:73`s,LPW girdle;Powerhouse DS,CHE safety loop,CHE LCA`S & Adjustable UCA,Kooks LT`S & O/R X Pipe,prothane MM`s,Steeda CMDP`S,Eibach springs,Tokico D specs,Polished TB(by Me),Steeda radiator support,MT DR`S,Zex kit 100 shot. Taylor Relocation batter kit and cut off switch
11:933 ET, 1.674 60`,111.877 MPH 5600 feet above sea level 6900 D/A
Sqidd Do you have a 1 piece drive shaft and if so what is your pinion angle set at?
Yes, I have a one peice but right now I have no idea wher it's at, LOL.
Between the three rear ends I have had in there in the last 6 months and the feeling that the shop that put the rear end in didn't actualy set the pinion angle I would guess it could be just about anywhere.
I am comepletely anal about this stuff too. I just have not found the time to get under the car and start driving myself crazy measuring stuff (I will measure everything, every way, at least 100 times).
Right now the car is glass smooth up to about 120mph and by 150 you think the DS is going to come out. If I had to guess it's negative a whole bunch.
I am out of town racing this weekend but when I get back I think I am going to jam some time in to get it all set up right. I got a whole new set of control arm bolts which I am going to replace and torque and then I'm going to set it as close to zero as possible. I am also going to tray and get the angle coming off of the trans to be the same as the angle at the pinion. In effect splitting the difference between the misalignment of the rear end and trans.
I will probably never go back to the dragstrip with the car and it will never have drag type tires on it. I won't have enough traction to rotate the rear end up and therefore won't need to put a negative pinion angle in to work with a monster launch.
I also had some time to talk to some guys running FR500's and they all have their stuff set up with as little angle as possible. They said if they didn't they would probably make 5 laps at Daytona before stuff started falling off the car because of vibration.
Or I could be all wrong and it won't work and I will end up setting it at a -2 deg. Testing is the only way to know for sure.
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I have mine set up with hardly any angle now. I drove it up to 130 and it was fine. I still think I will have a tech look at it.
Thats the rub. 9 times out of 10 you will do a better job than the tech will. They don't care and they don't get paid enough to care. That's why this country has shortage of good techs.
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Thats the rub. 9 times out of 10 you will do a better job than the tech will. They don't care and they don't get paid enough to care. That's why this country has shortage of good techs.
Preach on brother! If I can do it myself, I most certainly will. The headache of installing a part is nothing compared to the headache of being told something like this,
Me: Is my car done?
Tech: We didn't install your parts. There is ticking in the engine bay.
Me: What does that have to do with installing a torque converter?
Tech: You should take it to the dealer. Your warranty may be in question and if we install the T/C, they will know.
Me: DID YOU SEE MY CAR? THERE IS NO FREAKING WARRANTY!! I SENT IT OFF WITH THE UPS GUY WHEN HE BROUGHT ME ALL THIS STUFF!!
Me: Why didn't you call me?
Tech: ??? (puzzled look)
Me: Give me my keys.
Anyway, I'll be trying to dial in my d/s this weekend as well. It's at -2* and doesn't vibe up to 90. I'd be happy if it didn't vibe up til 120; I RARELY ever go that fast.
Preach on brother! If I can do it myself, I most certainly will. The headache of installing a part is nothing compared to the headache of being told something like this,
Me: Is my car done?
Tech: We didn't install your parts. There is ticking in the engine bay.
Me: What does that have to do with installing a torque converter?
Tech: You should take it to the dealer. Your warranty may be in question and if we install the T/C, they will know.
Me: DID YOU SEE MY CAR? THERE IS NO FREAKING WARRANTY!! I SENT IT OFF WITH THE UPS GUY WHEN HE BROUGHT ME ALL THIS STUFF!!
Me: Why didn't you call me?
Tech: ??? (puzzled look)
Me: Give me my keys.
Anyway, I'll be trying to dial in my d/s this weekend as well. It's at -2* and doesn't vibe up to 90. I'd be happy if it didn't vibe up til 120; I RARELY ever go that fast.
That is Ironic when I talked to my Mechanic who did the gears that whine. I only asked him if he could check my pinion angle since I changed my suspension a bit. He said have who ever did the work on it check it,and he did not want to look at it. I have known him for a long time. I even had the gears fixed by my dealer on warranty. I just want to kick his ass so bad , only problem is I would go to jail.
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Airraid CAI/BAMA tune,moto blue pullies,3:73`s,LPW girdle;Powerhouse DS,CHE safety loop,CHE LCA`S & Adjustable UCA,Kooks LT`S & O/R X Pipe,prothane MM`s,Steeda CMDP`S,Eibach springs,Tokico D specs,Polished TB(by Me),Steeda radiator support,MT DR`S,Zex kit 100 shot. Taylor Relocation batter kit and cut off switch
11:933 ET, 1.674 60`,111.877 MPH 5600 feet above sea level 6900 D/A
I'm going to install a Steeda UCA this weekend and the instructions say to use the forward shaft of a two piece stock shaft (picture shows them taking a angle reading on the shaft next to the tranny tailshaft) for your angle reading to compare to the pinion angle. Does this sound correct? I always thought you would use the the shaft closest to the diff. How are the rest of you all going about setting this angle?
It doesn't matter where you measure it as long as what you are measuring will give you the angle difference between the pinion centerline and the axle centerline.
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Under Construction. Better, Stronger, Faster than it was before.
I was just curious because the front half of the shaft when measured shows a different angle than the rear half. Which angle to go by? I guess I'll have to experiment a little.
I was just curious because the front half of the shaft when measured shows a different angle than the rear half. Which angle to go by? I guess I'll have to experiment a little.
Thanks for answering back.
If the front half of your shaft (no jokes kids) is at a different angle than the rear you have a bent shaft.
Are you saying that the angle from the DS to the trans is different than the angle of the DS to the pinion flange? That is probable.
But if you measure/ calculate the difference between the DS (you could measure anywhere along it's length) and the pinion you will get the "pinion angle" as your answer.
In a perfect world you would also be measuring the angle of the DS against the trans and adjusting things in the driveline (shimming, etc) to get the angle at the pinion and the angle at the trans the same. This would give you the least amount of "bend" you would have in the system and it would be far less likely to vibrate or resonate because the two angles would be the same. Of course this may end up giving you something different than a -2 deg driveshaft/pinion angle. But I am begining to think that you want a -2 if you are looking at doing some hard launches with the car. The roadrace gus I talked too could care less what the angle is just as long as it's as shallow as possible and equal at both ends.
Hope that helps
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) is at a different angle than the rear you have a bent shaft. 
