Since installing my lift I have been playing with the adjustable arms to get a compromise between an acceptable caster angle and the pinion angle needed for a double carden driveshaft. I don't think I can make both workable. I have been thinking about grinding/drilling/machining out the plug welds that lock the axle tubes in the pumpkin and then rotating to the correct position. I would like to try and do this in place (daily driver) so I was planning on first setting the castor angle, drain oil, remove the plug welds, then using a little heat if needed use a jack to turn the pumpkin to the correct pinion angle, and reweld (tig) the axle tube plug welds then refill diff. This seems to be workable but I was looking for some feedback from someone that has done this or has advice or other ideas to solve this problem.

 

before you go through all that work, are you sure your drive shaft is balanced? unfortuantely, just about every shaft that i have run has benefitted greatly from getting rebalanced and at a driveline shop that uses a digital balancer.

 

Yes I do have some vibration so I will be checking the balancing on the driveshaft (JE Reel 1310) before I go that far. It does seem that the closer I get to the recommended pinion angle for that style of driveshaft the lesser the vibration. I guess another question might be will a double carden shaft run vibration free if the pinion angle is set like a conventional driveshaft?

 

Has anyone done this?

 

conventional driveshaft? are you refering to how you would set up a rear driveshaft where it sits parallel to the pinion? if so, that would definitely get rid of your vibes but it will also mean you have negative caster and that would be real bad when it comes to handling.

 

I think rather than spinning the tubes themselves, most people spin the C. I remember seeing a writeup on it at one point and you pretty much have to be extremely accurate at marking and measuring your change, but it can be done. My concern would be that if you tilt the pumpkin up, you might not get good oiling.

Really though, I agree with most of these guys that there is probably something in the driveshaft. Most of these small lifts on a JK are just not enough that you should be off THAT far.

 

I have thought that oiling could be a problem, it would be best to have a new cover that would allow for more oil (overfill a little). I know that some people rotate the Cs on the end but if all the control arms and bars are left connected it seems somewhat straightforward to move the pumpkin, just have to make sure the tube don't move out of the pumpkin at all. This should keep everything matched and accurate.