Rear axle angle??

[Canada RCSB Mike]

All right gents, I`m a bit loose in this dept. I just recently got my truck back on the road with new tires/RCX 6"lift. I noticed that the rear axle pinion angle seems high.
Now I heard of shims for the rear axle but have never seen them or used.
have any of you out there use any such thing?
Also my truck is a `98reg cab short box. After the lift install the driveshaft seems to be barely holding onto the output shaft.
Let me know what ya think, i should do about this.

The angle seems pretty steep. I don`t want to destroy seals

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This is what seems to worry me most. That the driveshaft may not have much bite on the output

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Any help is greatly appricated. Heres a pic of the truck

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[Swaggerwagon]

by the looks of it, you didn't get tapered lift blocks for the rear...tapered block would fix the bad angle..which is very bad lol...i wouldn't drive it like that...you will kill that u-joint quickly...

 

[sewlow]

You probably need to get a longer drive shaft. Either get that one lengthened, or get a longer one (rclb) & have that shortened. There are universals that are for extreme angles, & they'll last a bit longer, but before you do all this, the pinion angle has to be correct. The shims that I've seen come in 2, 4, or 6 degree angles. They go between the leaf & the spring perch. They have a hole in the center so that they are held in place by the spring center bolt. The problem is that the center bolt is just long enough to fit into the spring perch, without the shims. So, you have to change the c-bolts to the right length. The c-bolts have to go right through the shim & fit into the hole in the perch.
It just seems to me that shims are a quick fix for something that wasn't done right in the first place.
There is more to this than just adding shims. The angle the pinion has to be at, is directly related to the angle of your trans output shaft. As far as what those numbers should be, there is a mathematical solution that I'm not exactly sure of. Someone else more experienced than I am in this area should be able to help you out with that equation

 

[dirtridinz71]

by the looks of it, you didn't get tapered lift blocks for the rear...tapered block would fix the bad angle..which is very bad lol...i wouldn't drive it like that...you will kill that u-joint quickly...

My thoughts too, that or the taper is going the wrong way. My d-shaft angle is not that steep with a 5.5" block.

 

[Canada RCSB Mike]

Thanks for the input boys, the shop here had a set of 4 " tapered blocks. Some reason mine were flat!!
The angle is much better now.
thanks for all the info.

 

[NOVAkon]

do these trucks get driveshaft vibes when you lift them? or is that just a jeep thing haha, with that pinion angle on a jeep it wouldnt be driveable cause it would feel like you were constantly on rumble strips lol