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Posted by Keith in Washington [24.41.41.111] on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at 15:14:21 :
In Reply to: Front axle pinion angle posted by Tim Brake [199.131.172.180] on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at 14:07:22 :
Look at the link. (http://jniolon.clubfte.com/drivelinephasing/drivelinephasing.html) It has a lot of good information. You basically want the pinion to be in the same plane as the output shaft of the transfer case. In fact the Engine crank shaft the main shaft of the transmission and the shafts in the transfer case are in the same plane. So if the engine is tilted 2 degrees to the rear you will find that transmission and transfer case are also tilted at the same angle. So will be the rear pinion shaft.
You mentioned that your original axle has the pinion at a negative 2 degree angle which possibly puts it in the same plane as the rest of the drive train.
The front axle has two critical angles. One is the pinion angle and the other is the caster angle. I will not discuss camber. The following link has some good information on front axle alignments. http://www.jeepfan.com/projects/caster-adjustment.htm
The pinion angle is set buy the spring mounting pads on the axle tube. They will rotate the axle until they get the correct pinion angle then weld the pads to the axle. So when the axle is mounted to the springs you get the correct pinion angle.
The caster angle is set at the end of the axles. There is a fitting that steering the knuckle is mounted to or the actual steering knuckle it self that is welded to the end of the axle tube. What is done here is that the ends are welded to the axle tubes with the correct caster angle. This is determined in relation to the spring mounting pads which determine how the axle is mounted in relation to the road. Newer axles have an eccentric cam that the ball joints are mounted through which allows some adjustment of the caster and camber to correct minor variances and load conditions. There are also wedges that are used to adjust caster that go in between the spring and spring pads (using these will also affect pinion angle).
The most critical of these angle is the caster. It really controls how well the truck will steer. With too low of a caster the truck will tend to wander down the road a lot. In axle swaps it is best to concentrate on caster and let the pinion angle go a little. If you let the pinion angle go a little it will cause more vibration and wear of the u joints in the front drive line. If your not using 4 wheel drive a lot the front u joints will not see much use this may not be an issue.
I would look for a Dana 60 out of a crew cab Dodge pickup. It will most likely have the correct angles that you need as it was set up for a truck that is essentially the same as yours. Then you do not have to be concerned with all of the angles as much. It also should be basically a straight bolt in conversion.
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