Ok so I am rechecking everything on my truck. I've had a few odd popping sounds and what not. I mainly wanted to ask other members who lowered their trucks about trans angle and pinion angle. Also who all used the belltech trans spacer. The reason i'm asking because I was told trans angle didn't matter ,but everything i've read says 3 degrees or less and they should parallel each other. So whats right

 

All angles matter... LMAO!!!! I don't have a trans spacer and no pinion shims either. No issues or vibes.

RT

 

exactly. before spacer trans was 6 down after 4 down. pinion is 2 down RT did you check yours when you lowered your truck

 

When do you hear the popping noise? And what parts came in your kit?

 

I have dropped my truck 2-3 in rear just to level it out. I had to raise the tranny to get both working angles of the u joints close. I had a healthy vibration above 65. As far as popping noises go, I never had an issue. GM has a few bulletins for popping noises in the rear. 1 is lubricating the leaf spring. 2. Is retourqueing the rear spring bolts.

 

You need to look at all angles. Jack it up, measure your drive shaft angle then calculate your trans and diff working angles off of that. You need to have at least 1 degree of working angle on the trans then adjust your diff to mirror that. So if you measure your driveshaft and compare it to the trans output and you have 3 degree of working angle with your trans output angled down then you want 1 degree of working angle of your pinion pointing up due to the fact when you have load the pinion with rotate up 2 to 3 degrees.

The small side of your working angles need to be on opposite sides of the driveshaft, if that makes any sense. So if your transmission was at the same angle as your driveshaft you would have 180 degrees on top and bottom. But if it is 3 degrees down compared to the driveshaft then the small side of your working angle is on top of the driveshaft. So the top would be 177 and the bottom would be 183 degrees. So on your pinion you would want the top working angle to be 183 and the bottom to be 177, without the additional 2 or 3 degrees offset to account for spring wrap.

Let me know if you have any more questions or if any of it doesn't make sense.

 

Well the popping noise doesn't bother me as much as the drive line angles. I know that part of it is the spring rubbers. I shot a little white lithium on it and it quit for a while, but there is a different noise i occasionally get. My best guess is something in the shackle. Also everything is torqued to spec and rechecked as well. I've had theses noises since we lowered the truck in early 15. It only seems to sometimes do it when turning in somewhere with a little angle. Really that part is on the back burner. Thanks for the input guys

 

I guess you could wait until you need a new ds.

I would make them within 2-3 or parallel, but no more, but if you have a 4 link in back the. You can go - 2-3 on pinion to get the rear tires to bite but if its just a sloppy leaf spring stock setup not going to do much for ya.