has anyone had to do this on a 3" lift?
i broke a u-joint on my 96 tacoma, and i believe, that if i rotate the front of the diff and make it inline with the driveshaft like billavista says then it will fix my problem.

only concerns are cleanly cutting off the old spring mounts.

thanks
-derek

 

mine is rotated to point at the T-case, but I run a double cardan at the top end. no big deal.

 

I believe (as much noob as I am at off roading) that this procedure is called axle clocking, and it's OK to do as long as you have the know-how to do it right.

 

The lift should have come with degree shims to angle the pig. If it did not the engineers of the kits either did not deem it necessary or were too cheap to include them. Look into getting theses instead of cutting and welding on new perches. I would also look into the u joints, it is not uncommon for them to fail, especially if they are not maintained properly.
if you choose to go thru with original plan, do not worry about a clean cut, get it as close as possible then grind off excess. Use new perches for new spot.

Good luck.

 

yeah im getting shims. the lift wasnt a kit, i just pieced it together. but alcan didnt say anything to me about rotating it.

 

Breaking a toyota u-joint is pretty rare unless you exceed the operating angle and it binds against itself. (instant breakage) I wonder if it broke under full droop with the new lift. If you do clock your axle to point the nose at the Tcase, you're going to want a double cardan joint at the T-case or it WILL vibe pretty hard. You can't run 2 different speeds on 2 different U-joints.

I'll let the physics guys tell you why.


It doesn't matter how you achieve the angles, but shims are often frowned upon. Your U-bolts will be different lengths front to back and sometimes the shims break or get spit out. Cutting off the mounts and welding on new ones is the way to go. (Once you KNOW what angle you want.)

 

im a mechanical engineer, i know what all of this means.

and i have a double cardan already as tacomas come with them stock.
and the shims would be welded on.
ill look into the ubolt thing.

 

oh and it broke going 75 down a highway.

 

http://www.marlincrawler.com/htm/suspension/parts.htm

anyone have any tips on keeping everything straight on the axle housing if i decide to use new spring perches?

also has anyone used marlin's frenched spring hangers?

 

Id go with the shims first. There are plenty of guys running way more than 3" of lift w/o rotating the diff up. Of course its better to rotate, but, you might as well try something easier first.. .well thats my take.

As far as keeping everything aligned on the axle housing, my guess would be to make a "jig" to keep everything aligned and straight off of the back of the drum.

 

im thinking the shims might not me so good though since with a ubolt flip, one leg of the same bolt would be different than its counterpart.

 

this might help.

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/rotated_housing/

 

Check out 4crawlers website on axle shims.

 

yeah ive been talking to him, but i think i want to rplace the old perches with new ones now.
-derek

 

ive got another idea:

cut the axle tubes just outside of the diff housing. then rotate only the diff and 3rd member up.

anyone done that?

-derek

 

anyone have any idea about the post above this one.

 

Makes no difference, the u-bolts roll under the axle tube and line up perpendicular to the spring plate, regardless of shim angle in there. If you do new perches, just bolt the new perch and springs on w/ the u-bolts, snhug but not tight. Then jack the pinion up to point within 1-2 degrees of the shaft angle. Shims are far easier to install, though, cutting off the old perches and grinding the axle tube clean is a lot of work.
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Shims.shtml

 

it does make a difference. sorry to disagree but draw a picture.

thanks for the advice though.

 

the small angle end would need to extend below the perch seat, while retaining the same slope for your thought to work.

and this is not available with shims so it cannot happen.

 

Granted, if you were talking about a very large angle, say 45 degrees, then yes, things would not line up well. But for "normal" shim angles, there is enough adjustment in the top spring plate and the u-bolts to accomodate the shim w/ no issues (other than the u-bolt legs having slightly different thread engagements). Here is my current rear axle, bolt on shim (4 degrees as I recall), u-bolt flip and all the u-bolt nuts sit flat on the spring plate:


Been running shims like this for about 9 years now, up to 8 degrees at one time, no issues at all. Seeing that I have run 3, then 8, then 5, then 4 degree shims in that time, I am glad I opted to bolt them on, easy to change when needed.

Granted, when I finally get around to installing my new axle, I do plan on installing new perches rotated to the proper alignment for my rear CV shaft. This is mainly because I want to install longer than stock perches (6" long) and to make them as close to the axle as possible and out of 1/4" stock to be very strong. So since I am replacing the perches, may as well put them on in the proper angle to start with.