The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline 2 peice drive shaft Question .

I am putting a 250 and 2004r trans in my 1951 chevy 3800 pickup. The out put shaft of the 2004r is about 2 inches below the output shaft of the SM420 4 speed. Will I have to lower the swing bearing mount for the drive shaft? I have seen Aux. trans drive shaft angles all over the place , and the second shaft behind the swing bearing is the only one that moves up and down, As long as this angle is not just crazy will it give any problems?? I know the big trucks run this set up and they seem to work just fine.
thanks LMD

The straighter your shaft, the less work-out your U-joints get. I've seen crazy angles on lifted trucks before and they work....but how often do they have to replace universals?

The angle of the rear shaft joints should not exceed 4 degrees and the front shaft will have to be set to not exceed that either if possible. The most desirable situation is to have the front joint on the transmission and the rear joint on the slip yoke or differential the same so they cancel each other out. Avoid extreme angle as was mentioned above. Those are not everyday driving set-ups and parts may only last for a single event. Incidentally it is just as important that no joint operate at a zero angle. Remember too that a side angle is sometimes possible as often seen with an center offset differential carrier.

We have a Tech Tip for this
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/driveline/setup/index.html

All your questions/answers and complete explanations for the advice already given is in the Spicer manuals.

Grigg