Questions about pinion angle and CV vs. Non CV shafts

[70jimmy]

I am in the middle of an axle swap and lift and am curious about what is better to run a rear driveshaft with a CV joint or normal u joint.

My rig is a 70 Jimmy with 37" BFG Krawlers, 14 FF Rear and 10 bolt front, Detroit rear and spool in the front. 4 inch shackle flip in rear with 3 inch lift tuff country springs and 6 inch tuff country front springs. 4 wheel disc and hydro steer. Rig will be 50/50 on road and off.

So is a CV better and if so why or vice versa. Also on pinion angle on the rear after searching it seems like the angle should be within 2 degrees of the output shaft of the transfer case. Is this correct for either type of shaft? I have read some articles about pointing the pinion at the transfer case?

Thanks for any input. Also ideas on where to get shafts made. I am looking at high angle but curious about others.

 

[mountain4x4]

http://www.4xshaft.com/

Should answer all the questions you just asked, plus it's a good place to order from if you need anything...

 

[divorced]

I am in the middle of an axle swap... and 10 bolt front, and spool in the front.

Have you used this axle in 4 wheel drive yet?

 

[70jimmy]

I have used the axle in another rig and it drove on the street ok. Just put the transfer case in two wheel drive.

 

[divorced]

I was wondering about driving off road in 4 wheel drive. I have heard that it will cause a horrible binding situation; maybe you could give an answer from experience. I would like to run a locker in my Dana 44, but have been warned against doing it.

 

[folkenheath]

If you use a standard driveshaft you want to have the pinion angle close to parallel to the transfer case output shaft angle (like you said) to cancel the velocity oscillations.

But if you use a CV style driveshaft (which would be better in your application because of the increased angle), you want the pinion pointing directly inline with the driveshaft and the CV joint taking up the angle at the t-case output. The CV stands for constant velocity and it will be a smoother transfer of power with less vibration.

 

[70jimmy]

I never drove the other rig the axles were in off road but I understand there wasn't a problem.

Now how about the front axle. I have heard that you don't want to shim? Any advise on this??

 

[divorced]

Degree shims to correct the pinion angle? They are fine on a Dana 44 or a 10 bolt, but not on a Dana 60 (it can be done, but I don't know how). You don't want to degree it too much or it will mess up your alignment and the truck will wander real bad.