Leaf Spring Shims Questions

When I swapped in a t-18 tranny, I lowered my tranny crossmember, and installed a double cardan joint rear driveshaft.

I have to shim my rear end to get the pinion and u-joint in the same plane. I've read that aluminum shims wear out quickly, but are more readily available. Does it make that much of a difference if they are aluminum vs. steel?

Where's a good place to order them from?

Also, I checked the angle difference between the pinion flange and the driveshaft, and came up with 8* difference. Does this mean that I need 8* shims? I was told to go half of that(4*), but am still not sure.

Thanks.

Rich

 

I did the shims & they didn't last very long. I ended up cutting the old spring perches off. Then bought new spring perches off ebay and & set the proper angle. Works great now.

 

With the double cardan joint, the pinion needs to point at the t-case output -1 degree. Best to cut off the mounts and weld in new ones. The main use of the double cardan is so you don't have to drop the t-case.

 

Not only do the aluminum shims wear out, they have a tendency to split down the middle and pop out. Either cut off the pads and install new ones or go with steel shims. McRuff makes excellent stuff. As already mentioned, the pinion should be about 1 degree below being in line with the driveshaft. This allows for "pinion climb" or the rotation of the differential under acceleration. 8 degrees difference is way too much.

 

Ditto: Aluminum shims are junk.
Ditto on the angle, pinion needs to be down 1-2 degrees.

 

Yep,

He's made me a couple sets.

High5