well, i happened to find a little blurb in the haynes manual about how to tell if you're 180 out of phase. by checking the position of the 3 grease zerks on the d-shaft, you can figure out if it's assembled correctly. i thought maybe i found a solution, but these are in fact set up right.

fyi: it's in the clutch/driveline section of the haynes. there's an early and a late variance, and they're opposite each other, go figure.

my shocks didn't come in yet, so i'm postponing the pinion shimming a week.

 

ok, it's coming down some in the back, but i wouldn't call it soft in any way. it still hops and slams over speed bumps. i hate speed bumps. only in the south.

anyway, here's before and after. my plan right now is to get my shox in (should be here tomorrow) and drill the shackles some new holes, about an inch up. then crank the t-bars to level it. if that rides good, i'll align and shim the pinion for that setup. if not, i'll pull a leaf and see how that feels.

stay tuned for updates.
first day:

now (this is a mirror image so they face the same way):

 

it doesn't look any different in these pics. i really thought it did live in person. dang!

 

ok so i got my ome shocks today, #94s. hopefully weather will permit me to put them in over xmas weekend sometime. i also need to drill my 5" shackles at 3.5" to regain the stock length. ARB-USA told me this was very important for the geometry of the Dakar springs. i guess using a boost shackle with a boost spring is too much boost.

so hopefully i'll be able to get these shackles drilled, and reinstalled, as well as the shocks this weekend, and then i'll see how much t-bar cranking is needed to level out, and if axle shimming is still necessary to ditch this driveline vibe.

merry xmas y'all!
Tj

 

Sounds a little fishy to me, no problem running a longer than stock shackle with a lift spring. The ARB springs generally do not require a longer shackle, but it causes no issues aside from pinion angle change:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...es.shtml#FAQ12

 

got stuff done this weekend. drilled the shackles to stock length, 3.5", and installed OME #94 light duty shocks. eyeballing the angle of the shackle against the white parking stripe in the background, it looks about 60*.

 

you can see the angle of my control arms here have increased. they were almost straight across with the center brace before.
it definitely bounces a little stiffer over speed bumps, but no worse than the back end. they're both evenly a little too stiff. ha


camera is a little crooked. eyeball to the vertical of the tire. still not bad.

 

here's comparison pics. the before is 5" shackle and t-bars at stock. the after is 3.5 shackle and t-bars up 1" (as measured at the t-bar bolt threads past locknut)

my pass. side is higher than driver by 1/2". i'll resolve this before its aligned. the dark blue/grn measurements are to the body crease. (the lower crease). between those two measure pt. there's 1" rise. i figure that will disappear once i start loading up the butt with bumpers, spares, and etc.

so, for now, suspension is done (until i replace front bushings and shocks, much later on). so what you're seeing is:
OME cs009 leafs with 3.5" shackle in rear; 1.5" bj spacers and 1" torsion cranked past stock in front. this gives me a ride height of about 39.5" to the bottom of BOTH wheel arches, with unloaded vehicle. it is a little stiff over speed bumps, and a tiny bit bouncy at highway speed.

 

my vibration has changed now that the butt is lower and the front is higher.

instead of a strong vibration on accel in 1st and 2nd, now i have a cyclic hum at highway speed. the cycle is about 1 hum per second at 60mph. if it was an automatic i'd think it was a torque converter from this sound.

i think i will have to go to drive shaft shop and see what is doing this. it's in phase, and the zerks on the driveshaft are aligned in the way the Haynes manual specifies for '88.

 

Check the u-joint angles:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Shims.shtml#FAQ1

 

Did you ever pull a leaf?

 

precisely ^

are you sure you're u-joints aren't bad? LOL

i still think you should just shim the axle and call it good lol

that angle doesn't look too bad to me? the angle on my buddy's rear driveshaft of his 4runner (with 4" lift..all spring in the back..no blocks) and it's that bad maybe a little worse, and his doesn't vibrate at ALL and he wheels it HARD lol

i knew i should have gotten the ome Med. duty springs LOL oh well i'm sellin the '86 so it don't matter lol

 

no. a little while after this post, my #3 cyl lost compression. i'm trying to decide whether to replace it or sell the whole truck right now.

 

That sucks, alot.

Where did you get the leafs from? how much did they cost and where can i find a list of what part number gives me how much lift... I've been searching on google for a while

 

I have had almost the exact same issues. I've got an 88 runner and I replaced the rear springs with the OME ones and there was instantly a vibration problem. I've measured and my rear pinion is tilted about 8 degrees up from level which I'm almost sure is causing the vibration.

so my question is would just changing the springs (and not also shackles) would cause this dramatic of a change in pinion angle? I'm using what I assumed were stock shackles, but I think they are definitely longer than 3.5 inches, if that's what stock is supposed to be.

the truck sits a bit too high in the rear anyway right now. if I can get the back end down and fix the pinion angle by going with shorter shackles, i'd rather do that than install shims. I'm also considering pulling the overload leaf. after 600-700 miles or so the springs are still pretty stiff.

 

Stock shackles are ~3.5" center-center, added length can change the pinion angle:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...es.shtml#FAQ12
Stock shackles will lower the rear end and lower the pinion angle.

With springs that have non-centered center bolts (like the rear springs), lift springs can change the pinion angle, think of the arch of the springs, stock is relatively flat, lift springs have more are, axle is mounted forward of center and is on the upward curve of the spring.

Shims are not that hard to install:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Shims.shtml#FAQ1

 

yeah I looked again and mine are more like 5.5-6". looking around at people's pics they definitely are not stock. probably some previous owner put them on as a band-aid to the saggy springs.

I think I'm gonna drill or replace the shackles to stock height and see how much shim I need once I have the angle down a little.

 

You guys whine too much. These are TRUCKS, they're supposed to make rattles shakes and noises.