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rear suspension help

bps3520

New member
Joined
Jun 3, 2007
Messages
3
Location
Tennessee
Hopefully someone hear can help me. I am installing a 76 vette rear suspension in a hot rod and have some questions about the factory vette setup. At ride height, should the driveshaft and half shafts be level with the ground or at a slight angle? If angled, what is the correct angle? Also, what angle does the pinion and transmission need to be at?

Thanks
 
Hopefully someone hear can help me. I am installing a 76 vette rear suspension in a hot rod and have some questions about the factory vette setup. At ride height, should the driveshaft and half shafts be level with the ground or at a slight angle? If angled, what is the correct angle? Also, what angle does the pinion and transmission need to be at?

Thanks


They're at a slight angle (in the neighborhood of 20 -26 degrees perhaps). I can research that tonight, and I believe that there is an image of it on the assembly book.
 
You never want the drive-shaft and strut-rods to be equal (level) to each other). One exception is if you dragrace... If the shafts would be equal you wouldn't get any camber gain in the corners = lose tire contact in the corners. If you want to get it right, go to a garage. They can set the correct camber with there equipment. Good luck :)

Groeten Peter
 
Hopefully someone hear can help me. I am installing a 76 vette rear suspension in a hot rod and have some questions about the factory vette setup. At ride height, should the driveshaft and half shafts be level with the ground or at a slight angle? If angled, what is the correct angle? Also, what angle does the pinion and transmission need to be at?

Thanks

At normal ride height the half-shafts angle downward toward the outside about 3 degrees or so. What's more important is that they're mounted such that they're angled forward about 3 degrees in a top view, so the U-joints always see some motion of the needle bearings in the trunnions, regardless of the (variable) angle in the rear view.

The down-angle of the transmission output shaft should be the same as the up-angle of the pinion (lines extended from the centerline of each should be parallel); you don't want them exactly in line, for the same reason - unless the needle bearings move relative to the trunnions in the U-joints, they'll brinell and fail. Most production installations are 4 degrees or less.

:beer
 
Thanks for the help. I thought there should be a slight angle up and down, but was unaware of the front to back angle.

If I remember correctly, the driveshaft angles up from the transmission instead of down. Am I crazy, or is that correct?

Thanks again
 
If I remember correctly, the driveshaft angles up from the transmission instead of down. Am I crazy, or is that correct?

Thanks again

I've never seen any car where the driveshaft angles up from the transmission output shaft. :)
 
I think its almost impossible! The transmission yoke is about 3" above the crossmember and the diff yoke 0.5". :)

Groeten Peter
 
I didn't think that was right, but that's how I measured it on a friend's vette. I must have done something wrong. I'm going to take another look at it next week. Thanks for all the help.
 

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