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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 11:49 AM
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Default Pinion Angle

Been trying to figure this out.
Car is on car ramps, front of car alittle higher than rear.
Taking measurements from the passenger side.
The driveshaft is angle down from the front to the rear.
Protractor said 7*
The rear end is angle up from the back to front.
Protractor said 5*.
So what is my pinion angle?
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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 12:28 PM
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Your pinion angle should be at -2*. Check this out:

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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 12:38 PM
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Yeah, I know what it should be at, but with my measurements, what is mine at now?
My driveshaft is angled like that, but my rear end is angled upward from back to front of car.
This is making my head hurt. LOL.
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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 12:45 PM
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Wouldn't that put you at -2?

Rear - driveshaft
(+5) - (+7)= -2
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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 12:53 PM
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I agree, looks like -2 if you follow that chart. (+5) - (+7) = -2
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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 12:59 PM
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So simple yet so confusing. I struggled with this before too.
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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 02:25 PM
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I'm sorry, I got it backwards.
My ds is 5* and my rear is 7*.
What would that put in at.
+2?
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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 03:48 PM
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Originally Posted by RENE'S RAGE
I'm sorry, I got it backwards.
My ds is 5* and my rear is 7*.
What would that put in at.
+2?
Correct

Bring the front of the rear down until you have |rear - ds = -2 and go from there.

I think lowering the front of the rear will also change ds angle. So recheck both.
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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 04:06 PM
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Yeah, lowering the rear would probably effect the ds angle also.
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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 06:02 PM
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you are at +2 with the driveshaft at 5 and the pinion at 7. You need to roll the pinion down a bit and aim to hit -1.7 or 1.8. 2 degrees will more than likely cause vibes and not get you any better performance. You also need to check the angle of the crank centerline as well, and try to get it as close to the pinion angle as possible(in parallel). You will most likely find you need to raise the transmission off the crossmember to achieve this.
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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 06:05 PM
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I played with this alot on several cars... What I can tell you is when the car is loaded at ride height, the trans output, and oil pan are usually about level (chassis rake puts it here) and the rear was level with the ground, or down 1 degree from level. To me this, puts the rear at 0 to -1.

Never worried much about this, as long as the driveshaft ujoints are not wearing prematurely it really doesn't make much of any difference on a rod ended suspension equipped 4th gen car. Rear won't wrap like a leaf spring car, so as long as you don't have a driveline bind its fine... Pinion angle does not effect traction
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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 06:20 PM
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Originally Posted by JL ws-6
I played with this alot on several cars... What I can tell you is when the car is loaded at ride height, the trans output, and oil pan are usually about level (chassis rake puts it here) and the rear was level with the ground, or down 1 degree from level. To me this, puts the rear at 0 to -1.

Never worried much about this, as long as the driveshaft ujoints are not wearing prematurely it really doesn't make much of any difference on a rod ended suspension equipped 4th gen car. Rear won't wrap like a leaf spring car, so as long as you don't have a driveline bind its fine... Pinion angle does not effect traction

Wow... seriously?
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Old Aug 1, 2013 | 06:32 PM
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Yep. Once chassis height was set to distribute weight where I wanted it on the last 3 cars I did engine/trans ended up level with ground... Pinion angle at level or a degree down worked fine for me. Tried moving it 2 degrees in both directions with no change.

Rod ended suspension does not deflect like leaf spring cars which need it to keep the driveline strait under hard a acceleration, no need to crank pinion angle in to compensate for something the car does not see.
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Old Aug 3, 2013 | 11:11 AM
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Originally Posted by Mystery Bird
So simple yet so confusing. I struggled with this before too.
Yeah, I kept coming up with +2, by all the formuals I was reading.
But, I was being mislead by someone else.
Just wanted to make sure I was right.
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