Help with pinion angle

[gkent]

According to the Mopar Chassis book, on a street car with standard leaf springs you want 5 to 7 degrees of "nose down" at the pinion. NOTE that this is NOT the pinion angle relative to the level ground but rather the difference between the driveshaft angle relative to the level ground minus the pinion angle relative to the level ground.

On a suspension such as Caltracs you would want 3 to 5 degrees nose down.

 

[Mopar4Speed]

According to the Mopar Chassis book, on a street car with standard leaf springs you want 5 to 7 degrees of "nose down" at the pinion. NOTE that this is NOT the pinion angle relative to the level ground but rather the difference between the driveshaft angle relative to the level ground minus the pinion angle relative to the level ground.

On a suspension such as Caltracs you would want 3 to 5 degrees nose down.

Is there a way you could post a pic of that page? I'd be definitely interested to read about it. Thanks

 

[gkent]

Here ya go ... You'll have to check the order of the pages

 

[gkent]

You won't see much mention of the front u-joint angle since that is pretty much "fixed" with no adjustment.

 

[dvw]

5-7 degrees for a street application is way more than you need. Never needed more than 5 degrees even on an all out drag car. Maybe easy to visualize if you draw it out on paper. Then rotate the paper until the trans C/L is zero. Now look at the pinion and you have the number. Example ; In post #1. The trans is 2 degrees down. The pinion C/L is zero. When you rotate the paper so the trans is at zero, the pinion is now 2 degrees down. This is getting way to complicated. It's simple. I've been setting this stuff up for over 40 years. 5-7 degrees for a street application is way more than you need. If you are really going to beat on it and it hooks up it might need 5 degrees. But on street tires? No
Doug

 

[Mopar4Speed]

5-7 degrees for a street application is way more than you need. Never needed more than 5 degrees even on an all out drag car. Maybe easy to visualize if you draw it out on paper. Then rotate the paper until the trans C/L is zero. Now look at the pinion and you have the number. Example ; In post #1. The trans is 2 degrees down. The pinion C/L is zero. When you rotate the paper so the trans is at zero, the pinion is now 2 degrees down. This is getting way to complicated. It's simple. I've been setting this stuff up for over 40 years. 5-7 degrees for a street application is way more than you need. If you are really going to beat on it and it hooks up it might need 5 degrees. But on street tires? No
Doug

Thanks for the post, are you saying it's good the way it is?

 

[dvw]

Thanks for the post, are you saying it's good the way it is?

For a street car on street tires, it's a good starting point.
Doug

 

[Jc cooper]

5-7 degrees for a street application is way more than you need. Never needed more than 5 degrees even on an all out drag car. Maybe easy to visualize if you draw it out on paper. Then rotate the paper until the trans C/L is zero. Now look at the pinion and you have the number. Example ; In post #1. The trans is 2 degrees down. The pinion C/L is zero. When you rotate the paper so the trans is at zero, the pinion is now 2 degrees down. This is getting way to complicated. It's simple. I've been setting this stuff up for over 40 years. 5-7 degrees for a street application is way more than you need. If you are really going to beat on it and it hooks up it might need 5 degrees. But on street tires? No
Doug

One quick question , when talking about pinion angle, are we talking about the gear end or the flange end of the pinion?

 

[dvw]

One quick question , when talking about pinion angle, are we talking about the gear end or the flange end of the pinion?

The flange (forward) end is the end pointing down compared to the the ttrans C/L
Doug