Sorry, I don't know the details about driveline angles and such. I just know the problem I had and what was done to fix it. I am very interested in reading about the details though if anyone has them.

Just judge from the picture and what I remember, I believe my spacing was worse than yours. Maybe as much as 3 inches of gap.

 

Ok, to check the angles you will need a magnetic angle finder. You can pick them up at Ace hardware. They use gravity to tell you the angle of what you stick it on. The needle will always be vertical, because it is gravity that makes it work. The best way to check is to set the angle on a flat part of the third memberthat is parallel with the pinion. (I used the top of the housing on my 8 inch). Then find a spot on the Transmission that is flat and parallel to the ouput shaft on it. Compare the 2 angles. They should be within two degrees of each other. If they are not, then you will need to either raise/lower the transmission or turn the rearend up/down to make them closer. The output yoke length looks fine. That doesn't really have anything to do with it anyway unless it is out too far and not in the bushing far enough. Of course it would also be a problem if it was touching the transmission, but yours looks perfect.

 

to your horizontal/vertical
it has to be a straight line when looking from top.
the pinion angle is a summary of the angle of driveshaft towards horizon and pinion towards horizon.
There's loads of websites that say exactly how to measure them.

the theory is that the angle between transmissioon yoke and shaft has to be the same as pinion yoke and shaft.
so that the u-joints sit both at the same angle if that makes sense to you the way i descibe it.
as the pinion will rotate slightly upwards under load you want 1 or 2 degrees more so that under load the angles will fit.
So you will need an angle finder to measure.

as for driveshaft shortening. from the picture you took opf T5 yoke I'd say it's correct. looks like you can push it in by 0.9" if you would unbolt the rear yoke. 0.75" is ideal according to moderndriveline.

from the pictures the yoke angles seem right.
if you get any chance to measure make sure that the u-jopint is in exact horizontal/vertical pisiton *move the car in gear a bit).
Here's an article on how to measure exactly.
http://www.wolferacecraft.com/pinionangle.aspx

I never tried but I was thinking instead of buying an angle finder something like that would work:

 

okay I think I got it.

It would make more sense if i could see the angle finder. Do you have a picture or link to one?

It sounds a lot like the angel degree indicators we use for long range shooting because 1000 yds at 0 deg requires a different hold over than 1000yds at 25 deg we mount them to the scope and they tell us what angle the barrel is pointing. might be able to use one of them to do the job.

anyways send me a pic of the one you got from ace.

Thanks for your help.

-Gun

 

+1 kalli. This is what I was trying to say, but you just worded it differently than me. Hopefully Gun can get somewhere with this info.

 

mah picture

 

Okay I see the picture using the gravity angle meter in the link Kalli sent.

Do i have to have the car sitting level or sitting naturally? Can I do it with the car on ramps so the nose points up?

Why would doing it on ramps be a problem? we are looking for a difference in angles right? the difference should be the same as no matter how the car is sitting (up hill down hill) as long as the suspension is loaded naturally right?

-Gun

 

This makes sense withthe problem I had too.

If you shorten the driveshaft and the yoke slides out of the tranny some, the angle on the driveshaft will increase, and if you lengthen the driveshat the angle will decrease.

I never really understood why it was important, other than I knew I didn't won't the driveshaft to somehow slip out of the transmission under heavy acceleration...that would be bad.

 

okay thats another question if we stick the meter on the drive shaft its going to read the same at both ends the angle change happens just past the drive shaft. Wouldnt I have to stick it on the 3rd member then the trans case as Tyler suggested?

 

It seems to me you would have to do all three. Tranny/Diff to see the difference, and on the driveshaft to ensure that it's angle is correct...but what do I know. I'm just trying to kill the last hour of the last day at work this week. Thanks for bringing up an interesting topic.