Rednroll

Ok, I think I have my pinion measurement problem figured out. I actually figured it out taking my 1st measurement pic to show you guys.

So for starters.

Angle finder calibration for a little sanity check.


This is where I took my original 8* measurement. Now after adjustment of arm length, I'm at 11*. Anyone notice what's wrong with this measurement?

Rednroll

And now for what I think are the "real" measurements.

Top side measure (2 Deg)


Bottom side measure (1.5 Deg)



Now to take it for a drive, then I'm heading for the alignment shop for the real measurements. I think I'm going to have them change my Trans fluid/filter and T-case fluid while I'm there. I've been meaning to do that myself, but want to just get those done.

resharp001

nah, put that angle finder directly on the pinion flange....right were the DS is bolting up to it....like in the picture i had previously in the thread. You can't trust that part of the diff to be a good surface to measure from. Reference that pic again and see where I drew the red square representing the angle finder. That makes sense how the reading is so off.

edit - i was looking at the first set of pics when responding. hadn't noticed the 2nd set yet. that looks better, but i'd still use the flange itself.

Rednroll

More like this?

resharp001

y, that's where I read from. Please follow up with the actual specs. Will be curious what the computer reads vs. the angle finder. Kinda nice having digital readout.

kjeeper10

Eggggszackly

Rednroll

Yeah, the digital read out is nice. $28 at HF. It's built nice and solid with a metal housing also.

The only problem I had with taking that flange location measurement is trying to determine the exact location of the bottom of the circle of the flange. So depnding on where I placed the angle finder, I got anywhere from a 0 deg, to 3.6 degree reading. That final measurement I took, "looked" like the bottom arch of the flange circle.

karls10jk

To eliminate the guessing game you can put your bubble level on one of the ears of that u-joint and get the bubble floating in the middle to determine true 'center' then just line your angle finder up with that spot.

I understand the pain because I was checking mine against a friend's jeep and trying to see whose caster was correct. I got flustered and let it be. Mine drives great, his was flighty, both read really close. I ended up going out to the bottom of the shock mount brackets to check left and right caster to see what's what. Now if I could quantify those numbers you mean something then I'd be bonus. It may be time to go to the digital since the other HF offering is so-so in accuracy: +/- 0.5° according to the packaging.

Rednroll

There definitely seems to a few variables in getting the exact measurement. Any slope in your drive way, I would have to think tire pressure in making sure they all have the same amount of pressure would be a factor. Then the accuracy of the gauge. Any placement of the gauge guess work.

I probably will never need it again, but once I get my alignment readings back, I'm going to park in the same location in my drive way, and then play around with different locations to place the angle finder, to find what gives me the closest pinion angle reading that would correspond to the alignment caster. Then I'll trace around the angle finder with a paint marker to mark that location. I think that should eliminate most of the unknown variables such as gauge tolerance, etc.

I just dropped the Jeep off at the shop. It drove fine, and it seemed like my ride was smoother when hitting bumps and that's what I was hoping to achieve by going through the pains of re-adjusting my arm length.

The shop is doing an alignment check and changing my T-case fluid. They said they don't do trans fluid changes. So I'm back to doing that myself again. I'll post the alignment read out when I get it.

Rednroll

Here's where I was at previously with my arm length set at 22 1/2in. I set them to 23 1/16in this time around.