Pinion Angle And Horrible Wheel Hop

[5SpeedLsx]

Has Anyone Had Pinion Angle Problems And Wheel Hop When Lowering Obs’s? I have 3 inch springs/2 inch spindles up front and 2 inch hangers with 6 inch flip kit. My diff pinion is pointing upwards and at one point the drive shaft made contact onto the pinion bolts and shaved them down. I have the worst wheel hop ever. Any Help Is Appreciated! I also don’t have shock extenders installed yet either.

 

[Donald Mitchell]

Yep, that's what it is!

 

[sewlow]

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#2 is as good as it gets for these trucks & actually is better than #1 because it puts a slight load on the needle bearings in the U-joints, keeping them moving & evenly lubed.

No shock lower extensions is not helping things at all.
They're swinging on the mounts as opposed to compressing.
Get those on there along with BellTech #6658. That'll get those shocks back to a much better, almost stock position where they'll work as they were designed to.

What Co. did you use for the flip?
DJM is adjustable for pinion angle. B/T, & their derivatives are not.
For the B/T, you'll have to use pinion wedges to correct.
That requires using a leaf spring center bolt with an extended head in order for that to reach through the shim & into the hole on the spring perch.
You can make your own extended head bolts. GM lists 4 lengths for these trucks. They still sell 'em. Cheap.
C1500's use the shortest. Order the next length. Crank a nut to the head with some red loc-tite. Grind off the nut's shoulders down to the bolt's head diameter.

Notched the box cross member?

 

[5SpeedLsx]

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#2 is as good as it gets for these trucks & actually is better than #1 because it puts a slight load on the needle bearings in the U-joints, keeping them moving & evenly lubed.

No shock lower extensions is not helping things at all.
They're swinging on the mounts as opposed to compressing.
Get those on there along with BellTech #6658. That'll get those shocks back to a much better, almost stock position where they'll work as they were designed to.

What Co. did you use for the flip?
DJM is adjustable for pinion angle. B/T, & their derivatives are not.
For the B/T, you'll have to use pinion wedges to correct.
That requires using a leaf spring center bolt with an extended head in order for that to reach through the shim & into the hole on the spring perch.
You can make your own extended head bolts. GM lists 4 lengths for these trucks. They still sell 'em. Cheap.
C1500's use the shortest. Order the next length. Crank a nut to the head with some red loc-tite. Grind off the nut's shoulders down to the bolt's head diameter.

Notched the box cross member?

Im using street edge off of eBay for the flip kit and everything else is belltech.I think I’m just going to put stock hangers back on and also put the lowering shackles back on. When I purchased my truck it was on a 2/4 drop on where they used 2in hangers and 2in shackles. So I did what was easiest to remove 2 inches when I did the flip kit and that was removing the shackles ‍ I need to notch the box aswell? Thanks for help! I highly appreciate it!

 

[5SpeedLsx]

Yep, that's what it is!

I had a feeling that was my issue but didn’t want to believe since there’re a pain to remove.

 

[sewlow]

I’m just going to put stock hangers back on and also put the lowering shackles back on.
I need to notch the box aswell? Thanks for help! I highly appreciate it!

It's those hangers that are causing the majority of your prob with the pinion angle.
You may still have to correct the P/angle with a shim when using the shackles, but the degree of the shim required won't be as severe.

Any rear drop greater than 4" needs the box cross member to be notched.
This is a 7" drop.
Rearranged brake line & bracket too.
The 'T' at the junction now faces rearward so that the soft line doesn't have to go forward & then snake back around to the factory-designed forward facing junction.
A precaution against the soft line getting pinched.

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[RichLo]

Just an FYI, thats not wheel hop. Its your u-joints spinning at different speeds through the revolution causing a driveshaft pulse.

If a driveshaft is setup like #2 in sewlows diagram, the driveshaft is still spinning at different speeds through the revolution but the u-joints are spinning at different speeds evenly, canceling each other out. Once you change that 'balance' one u-joint will spin faster than the other causing a pulse (not wheel hop).

You need to change your pinion angle and get it at least in-the-ballpark.

 

[DamHoodlum]

When I installed my 4" drop bell tech leaf springs/shackles I used a 5 degree shim in my to get my pinion angle to work correctly.

Get you an angle finder and measure what you have now and then you will know what changes you need to make it work

Also i found interesting I needed to shorten my original drive shaft after my rear drop

 

[NotA350]

When I installed my 4" drop bell tech leaf springs/shackles I used a 5 degree shim in my to get my pinion angle to work correctly.

Get you an angle finder and measure what you have now and then you will know what changes you need to make it work

Also i found interesting I needed to shorten my original drive shaft after my rear drop

I have the same belltech leaf springs except with a 1” lowering shackle and it has horrid wheel hop especially with the 5.3/NV3500 combo which way did you face the shim? from the gas tank towards the bumper or from the bumper towards the gas tank?

 

[sewlow]

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Whichever way it takes to get to this. ^^^
I'd say the majority of your wheel hop prob is those lowering springs. Too s-o-f-t.
More-n-likely throwing the pinion angle off, too.
How many leafs in the pack? Is there an 'overload' spring in there?
If you need to add a wedge, you will need some leaf spring center bolts with extended heads.
Because...the head of the bolt has to be able to reach through the wedge & into the perch's centering hole.
IIRC B/T sells 'em. The other drop kit co.'s may too.
Or, you can make your own. GM lists regular head size center bolts in 4 lengths for cheap.
C1500's use the shortest. Get the next longest. Crank a nut to the head with some red loctite. Grind off the shoulders of the nut down to the bolt's head size.
You'll need new U-bolts. They're torque-to-yield. One time usage.
I didn't have to get my driveshaft shortened on a 2/4 drop.
Even if that had to be done, it would only of been one more addition to the list of B.S. I had to go through, not only with the install but with getting it all to work properly. (Along with everyone has that's ever done a 2/4!)
It's a lotta work for..."Damn. Not enough. Close, but no cigar."
That was the first thought as soon as it was off of the hoist, and every time after when doing 'the look-back'.
The 4/7 on my '98 was less hassle, looks 'right', and still has more ground clearance than a stock Civic.
Save your front hangars. You'll need them for when you go 4/6. Like 90% of every other 400 owner that first went 2/4.
I'll never do another.