rear pinion angle

[John D]

98 XJ, 8.25 rear, about 8 inches of lift, with SYE and DC shaft.

I've been doing a few searches and now I think I know less than before. My question is this: what angle does my rear pinion need to be in this set up? Should it be the same angle as the output of the tc or should it be equal to the angle of the drive shaft?

[Yucca-Man]

Double-cardan joint? The pinion should be pointed at the joint (90-degree angle, relative to the driveshaft itself)

(edit)Randy's Ring+Pinion www.ring-pinion.com had a great writeup about it, complete with graphics but they changed the site recently. Still looking for it. For what it's worth, if you had the older-style one u-joint per end type driveshaft, the pinion face should be parallel to the output on the t-case.

[RCP Phx]

About 1* less than the driveshaft angle!
http://4xshaft.com/images/cv_angle.gif

[John D]

Thanks RCP, that's what I was looking for.

[Nightside21]

I've actually heard that about two degrees below being perfectly inline with the drive shaft is good. The reason being is that when torque is applied at the wheels it's gonna tilt the differential and thus the pinion up some. That means that when you accellerate, the angle will probably be close to zero. This is also why setting up the driveshaft angles isn't an exact science :)

[Yucca-Man]

Good point; I hope to be playing that game myself next week (once the correct d-shaft arrives) and forgot about the axle wrap.

[vintagespeed]

I wouldn't recommend more than 10 deg. above the horizon on your rear axle, you'll bake the pinion bearings.