----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002
4:49 PM
Subject: RE: [Chevelle-List]
driveline center
Wayne,
I
should have noted it's a 1970 SS. The word I got was from a driveshaft
manufacturer client of ours (American Axle). They build a zillion
driveshafts for GM (pickups, SUVs, etc.). He told me not all vehicles
require it - it might even be exclusive to some applications within a
specific platform (an "A-Body" is a "platform" in the industry). I never
noticed it on mine until I looked and, lo' and behold, there it
was.
On the
other hand, I also have it on pretty good authority that ANY lateral
deviation is bad. Not only am I confused, now I'm worried about how I GOT
the deviation! It must be a virus or something...
Moreover,
when I look over the whole assembly, I can't see how a deviation could
even be introduced. The axle is fixed in position by the controls arms, my
chassis is straight and square, the engine & trans appear to be
installed perfectly. I am truly mystified. I really need some eyeball
input on this.
C
Like they say, you learn something new
every day. But from a birds eye view, looking down the Centerline of the
transmission to the yoke then to the rear end yoke. and from my limited
knowledge a 10 and 12 bolt rear rear end pinion/yoke is centered
in the housing, ( I just confirmed that on a 64 ten bolt and
a 66 12 bolt housing)
I can't understand the laterial deviaion in
you car.
The notion of zero degree pinion
angle in relationship to the, drive shaft and transmission,
Is a well documented.
But the concentric deviaion of drive
train,drive shaft and rear end is a new one to
me.
Wayne
Ps will put my 64 ans 65 on the lift to
nite !
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, September 11,
2002 3:34 PM
Subject: [Chevelle-List]
driveline center
My driveshaft is offset a bit left
of center when viewed from the back of the car. A driveline buddy of
mine says this is deliberate in order to make sure the driveshaft
never arrives at zero degrees of offset through the suspension travel.
Could you guys please tell me if the driveshafts in YOUR cars are
offset at all? By offset I mean laterally. So if you were looking at a
"plan view" of the chassis (that is, a bird's eye view), the
driveshaft would be slightly left of center at the transmission tail
shaft so a slight angle would be present between the trans and the
differential. Or maybe the differential would be slightly
offset.
BTW, this would NOT generally be
evident in assembly manual drawings, etc. You'd sure enough see it if
the car was on a hoist and viewed from the rear, however. This is important to me in my quest to debug
my driveshaft. Also, not all platforms has this offset - only those
the engineers determined could arrive at zero at some point in the
travel of the suspension. We're only talking about a 1/2 inch or an
inch, by the way. Nothing dramatic but you can see it
readily.
Craig E.
