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Gentlemen I made a crucial mistake when I disassembled my '79 F-150 4x4 shorty. I took all the dimensions except the differential angle. Does anyone have a clue as to what that is on either the Diff. machined face, or the spring perches? I just finished making all my brackets for my 4-linc air ride setup and need the angle to weld the 4-link brackets I made to the axle housing.
Good article, but mine is in pieces already so I have no trans and no driveshaft installed. I have an old frame diagram and as close as I can tell the spring perches are about 6.5 degrees off from level. But I'd really like to see that in writing.
Well crap I didn't see you were working on 4x4 till just now,have you removed your spring pads? If not just put the pinion at zero and put a angle dial gauge on your spring pads and that should tell what it was factory.
Adding the 4-links, but at the same ride-height as before? Are you using a single driveshaft (not one with a pillow-block or carrier bearing in other words) and will it have single-cardan, or a dual-cardan joint at the transfer case?
I assume double-cardan, but with so many options with Ford over the years wanted to make sure.
Going by the old spring perch angle might not get it. Did any of the spring blocks that Ford used have a taper? If not, then the perches should tell the tale, but if yes, you would need to take your original block's angle into account as well.
I hate to say it, but if there is any chance of just tack welding the link brackets in place, that's what I would do. Or just wait until more of the truck is put together.
If you're making even the slightest change to ride-height, or to the type of transmission you're going to be installing, or any other changes that might effect the driveshaft, then you need to wait until those parts are installed and the suspension is cycled to neutral ride height so you can figure out the angles needed for your particular setup.
If you think the original angle will still be good, then this is not a big issue. But if any of those are going to change, I say wait to finalize the angle.
Now that I think about it, even the little ones that were on Broncos and some F150's, guessing maybe about 1.5" or so(?) were tapered.
Lots of reasons that suspension, steering and driveline angles can only be finalized when all the other stuff is factored to work together.
And another reason that powder coating everything ahead of time can be such a pain. Just as soon as you have all those nice shiny parts waiting to be installed, you find out you have something else to weld on!
I like what you have set up so far. Will you be keeping the leaf springs and just using the 4-link for control? Or will you be running something like coil-over shocks?
Adding the 4-links, but at the same ride-height as before? Are you using a single driveshaft (not one with a pillow-block or carrier bearing in other words) and will it have single-cardan, or a dual-cardan joint at the transfer case?
I assume double-cardan, but with so many options with Ford over the years wanted to make sure.
Going by the old spring perch angle might not get it. Did any of the spring blocks that Ford used have a taper? If not, then the perches should tell the tale, but if yes, you would need to take your original block's angle into account as well.
I hate to say it, but if there is any chance of just tack welding the link brackets in place, that's what I would do. Or just wait until more of the truck is put together.
If you're making even the slightest change to ride-height, or to the type of transmission you're going to be installing, or any other changes that might effect the driveshaft, then you need to wait until those parts are installed and the suspension is cycled to neutral ride height so you can figure out the angles needed for your particular setup.
If you think the original angle will still be good, then this is not a big issue. But if any of those are going to change, I say wait to finalize the angle.
Paul
I'm trying to keep the ride height the same, so all the dimensions were taken while the truck was together. What I ended up doing was going by the diagram, it came out to be a 8.25 degree angle from level on the existing perches, so that's what I shot for. I do have adjustment on the links themselves, and if it doesn't come out right in the end, I can shorten or lengthen the links if there isn't enough adjustment.
IF you guys are interested it's my '66 f-250 2wd long bed with the front half of a '79 shorty 4x4 frame spliced to the '66 rear and shortened to fit the shortened bed. I was bored.
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