axle questions

I put a new lift on my jeep and was wondering about my axle. I had taken it off the car to clean it. After the lift the angle of the driveshaft got alittle worse. Can you install the axel so that the area connected to the drive shaft is angled a bit. will this damage the axle. I was wondering because i will grind and reweld the brackets if it is okay to ran them angled as compared to straight. Does anyone know about this or has anyone ever done anything like this. Basically what I am saying is reattaching the axle at a angle. so the diff point upward alittle rather then straight.
thanks,

 

can buy shims to correct this. the steel ones are better than the alum ones.

 

That is what you are supposed to do. You can either cut the perches off the axle housing and reweld them when you get the axle at the right angle, or if it is not too far off you should be able to find some degree shims that go between the spring and the perch.

 

thanks guys, Yeah I am prob going to get shims. I was just wondering if it was okay ot have the axle angled. I did not want to angle it and have any problems with it working correctly. The only bad thing I could see happening is the fluid not being distributed correctly. I would thing everything else would work the same. Any more input on having the axle angle so it meets the driveshaft at not such a harsh turn.

 

If you angle the rear up too much, you'll want to run a CV style driveshaft. You don't want to angle the front too much. It'll mess with your steering.

 

:iagree: How much more of an angle are we talkin here anyway?
Got pics?

 

Yeah I am getting a new driveshaft for the front no matter what, so i do not have to angel the front to much. The rear is the issue. I did not want to replace it right away, I just wanted to angle the axle up so it does not bend like a z or s depending how you look at it. I just wanted to make sure putting the axle up(angled) was okay prior to me welding perchs on so it sits angled and have me run into issues.

 

Angling the rear shouldn't be much of a problem depending on how much of an angle. Getting a CV driveshaft would be the best thing to do for the rear but you should be able to get by for a little while without it depending on the angle. There may be some vibration and it could also be more prone to breaking u-joints or worse. I wouldn't worry about any of that until you drive it and see how it feels first. I would definately look in to getting the CV at some point though.

 

thanks for everything guys i have learned alot

 

I hope you’re referring to the back axle, cause mess’n with the pinion angle on the front is a bad plan. That’s because you’d be changing the Caster Angle of the knuckles also. Moving Caster Angle away from stock = bad handling or “death wobbles” which can also = you becoming an ugly stain on the highway. In other words, don’t do it.
The rear axle isn’t that bad, but unless you’re run’n a CV rear drive shaft, you would want the pinion angle to be parrellel to the transfer case output shaft angle. This way the angles at the u-joints cancel each other out and eliminate vibrations.
The way to figure these angles has been posted here before, if you do a search you should be able to find’em.