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Drive shaft angles

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Old Jan 30, 2023 | 05:07 PM
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Drive shaft angles

Could anybody tell me what the driveshaft angles should be on my 05 F350? Since I’ve installed a 6” lift I get a pretty good vibration starting at about 50 and increases up to 75 mph. I have about 7 degrees difference between the yoke right by the carrier bearing and the yoke on the diff. I did try some homemade shims under the carrier bearing and it seemed to make it worse. I feel like I need shims to rotate the diff to point the pinion down more but thought I should ask before I do anymore. Thanks!
 
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Old Jan 30, 2023 | 06:35 PM
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I found this online so I think I’ll need to order some shims for the rear diff. Anybody have any experience with this?



 
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Old Jan 31, 2023 | 06:37 AM
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What body/bed style? Probably just need to get the carrier set correctly, there's gonna be different drop heights based on the wheelbase, to get all the driveshaft angle right. Here's a good link with all the info you should need.

https://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTr...line-101.shtml

2pc driveshaft section
https://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTr....shtml#2-Piece
 
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Old Feb 1, 2023 | 09:00 AM
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From the factory, the pinion should be rotated pointed up 5 degrees to match the forward shaft (and transfer case) at 5 degrees down.

When you drop the center support bearing, you then increase the working angle of that front driveshaft, say to 7deg. In order to match that 7deg down, you'll want to rotate the pinion up by 2deg.
 
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Old Feb 1, 2023 | 09:59 AM
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I’ve shimmed the Center support up to 1 1/2” in 1/4” increments with no change. I’ve also tried pointing the pinion angle up and down with no help. At this point I’m looking into a one piece driveshaft
 
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Old Feb 1, 2023 | 10:35 AM
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According to one of your other post you have a CCSB, which is a 156" wheelbase, that's pretty much the upper limit for a single shaft and it's gonna be huge. Last time I priced one out, 5" dia alum for a 155" wb, it was almost $1000 and that was 5 years ago. The shop I went to recommended I stay with the 2pc steel because the 2pc is a more stable setup under a load and at high speed, plus it was half the cost.

From what bajaphile says, it sounds like you need to get your intermediate shaft in line with the t-case by adjusting the carrier, then adjust the pinion angle to match. Does the carrier have alot of left/right slop? Is the tranny centered or can it shift left or right? If it's out of alignment that way it adds a little more bind in the joints.

I don't think it should be an issue at that lift height and WB, but you may want to closely inspect the yolks and u joints to see if there's any binding because of the angles. Sometimes you can grind a little clearance inside them or you might need to go to high angle joints.
 
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Old Feb 1, 2023 | 11:00 AM
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Originally Posted by speedfreak78
According to one of your other post you have a CCSB, which is a 156" wheelbase, that's pretty much the upper limit for a single shaft and it's gonna be huge. Last time I priced one out, 5" dia alum for a 155" wb, it was almost $1000 and that was 5 years ago. The shop I went to recommended I stay with the 2pc steel because the 2pc is a more stable setup under a load and at high speed, plus it was half the cost.

From what bajaphile says, it sounds like you need to get your intermediate shaft in line with the t-case by adjusting the carrier, then adjust the pinion angle to match. Does the carrier have alot of left/right slop? Is the tranny centered or can it shift left or right? If it's out of alignment that way it adds a little more bind in the joints.

I don't think it should be an issue at that lift height and WB, but you may want to closely inspect the yolks and u joints to see if there's any binding because of the angles. Sometimes you can grind a little clearance inside them or you might need to go to high angle joints.
I’ve replaced the Center support bearing when I started shimming it. U joints all move freely and no binding. To me the Tcase to Center support shouldn’t have to be adjusted because it didn’t vibrate before and they need to be aligned, which I’m assuming they were before from factory because I didn’t vibrate. Like I said, I’ve also went up and down with the centre support, bearing with no help. Right now there’s 1 degree difference between the transfer case, yolk, and the yolk at the centre support bearing. There’s also a 1° difference between the yoke at the centre support and the pinion yoke. I still get a vibration from 50 mph getting worse, the faster you go. The funny part is the yoke at the Center support bearing is not perfectly aligned with the yoke on the front of the intermediate shaft. I’m talking a few degrees out that you can’t really see with your eyeballs. I tried it in a couple other spots to see if I could get it closer aligned and it only made things worse so I currently have it back where it was when I started. At this point, I have no idea what to do and I’m absolutely tired of working on it.
 
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Old Feb 1, 2023 | 01:21 PM
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Well.....as you can see in your diagram in Post #2 the pinion and yoke need to be parallel, although truthfully the pinion can be down 1-2 degrees because it torques up under throttle.

Rotate the d/s 90 degrees from shown in the diagram. Measure from the cap in the pinion yoke and the cap in the d/s yoke (above the words "middle working angle"). I put a deep socket on the cap to "extend" it then put the angle finder on the socket. Get those angles to match (but again, I'd actually have the pinion 1-2 degrees lower) and you shouldn't have any unusual vibes
 
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Old Feb 16, 2023 | 05:04 PM
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I feel like I should finish off this thread. Took it to a shop and the driveshaft angles were all good. Took the driveshaft to a machine shop and it was way out of balance. They had to cut it apart and balance it. Smooth as can be now. Thanks for all the help everybody
 
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