Half shaft angle
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Race Director
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From: Forked River NJ
Half shaft angle
I have always thought the half shafts should be as straight as possible when the car is at rest. You would not want it to angle up or down as this would put undo stress on the ujoints. With some of the lowered cars I have seen the half shafts are angled up. Is there any rule of thumb on what angle is acceptable. I want to lower mine some but I am pretty straight with my half shafts right now. Angled up with acceleration angling them even more could cause ujoint problems. 
Safety Car
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From: Youngstown Ohio
When accelerating, I definitely want as little "rise" as possible from the 1/2 shafts.....I don't know the the exact specs, but having recently changed mine, I remember them being angled slightly down (toward the wheels) with the car at rest.
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From: Forked River NJ
Originally Posted by C3 Stroker
When accelerating, I definitely want as little "rise" as possible from the 1/2 shafts.....I don't know the the exact specs, but having recently changed mine, I remember them being angled slightly down (toward the wheels) with the car at rest.
Team Owner
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From: Lake Norman NC
Mine are angled up, because its sitting so low..it could go even lower, but i don't like the idea of the angles getting too sharp. For normal street driving, it should be fine..but for racing..just raise it up to where they are parallel, or angled down slightly for drag racing...thats what i do. I prefer the parallel position at all times IMO.
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From: Clearwater FL
Originally Posted by Gordonm
That is what I think would be best for drag racing because when you get rear squat you are going to be approaching them being straighter. Anyone else?
You also need a stiffer spring for drag racing. That will prevent the shaft from angling upward and keep the level.
Le Mans Master
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From: Fremont CA
You ALWAYS want some angle to your halfshafts because the needle bearings in the U-joints need some angle to keep them in motion otherwise they will stay static and brinnel the bearings. This comes from none other than Dave McClellan former Corvette Chief Engineer at GM in a conversation I had with him a few years ago.
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Drifting
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From: VetteMOD
St. Jude Donor '05-'07
Originally Posted by Solid LT1
You ALWAYS want some angle to your halfshafts because the needle bearings in the U-joints need some angle to keep them in motion otherwise they will stay static and brinnel the bearings. This comes from none other than Dave McClellan former Corvette Chief Engineer at GM in a conversation I had with him a few years ago.
ABSOLUTELY!
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From: Forked River NJ
Originally Posted by Solid LT1
You ALWAYS want some angle to your halfshafts because the needle bearings in the U-joints need some angle to keep them in motion otherwise they will stay static and brinnel the bearings. This comes from none other than Dave McClellan former Corvette Chief Engineer at GM in a conversation I had with him a few years ago.
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From: Virginia USA
Originally Posted by Solid LT1
You ALWAYS want some angle to your halfshafts because the needle bearings in the U-joints need some angle to keep them in motion otherwise they will stay static and brinnel the bearings. This comes from none other than Dave McClellan former Corvette Chief Engineer at GM in a conversation I had with him a few years ago.
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In stock form, the half shafts and strut rods are NOT parallel, far from in fact, with the 2 parallel there will be NO camber hcange through susp. movement, not something you want unless you have found a way to elimnate all body roll...not possible.The angle of the halfshaft is closely related to ride height, dropping the car will change the angle, now is there a big drawback to having the halfshafts not level? not really.
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From: Forked River NJ
Originally Posted by Twin_Turbo
, now is there a big drawback to having the halfshafts not level? not really.
Le Mans Master
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I remember reading some hot rod magazine article way back in the 80's and they had some tips how to set up your C3 corvette for Drag Racing. Their biggest tip was to raise the rear so that when launching off the line the 1/2 shafts should be paraller during the hard acceleration to get the tires hook up at their best, makes sence to me.
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Here's my stuff, the strut rod inner mounting point has been moved downward so you can see they still are not parallel (onm purpose...you don't want them parallel) and the stock setup has the mounting point up higher, it gives more camber change during susp. travel.
Also not that this is not even ride height and the halfshaft is beyond level, mine will probably be even lower so they will angle up
Also not that this is not even ride height and the halfshaft is beyond level, mine will probably be even lower so they will angle up
)
Drifting
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From: Shore NJ
Originally Posted by Solid LT1
You ALWAYS want some angle to your halfshafts because the needle bearings in the U-joints need some angle to keep them in motion otherwise they will stay static and brinnel the bearings. This comes from none other than Dave McClellan former Corvette Chief Engineer at GM in a conversation I had with him a few years ago.
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no need for worrying about the angle, the halfshafts constantly move, this angle issue is only important for the driveshaft, that's why the pinion angle and tranny angle are important as well as that the pinion is less offset than the engine.
Last edited by Twin_Turbo; Dec 11, 2005 at 03:16 PM.
