1972 Build thread.

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by Spf79

I'm following you on the toe, I just didn't understand if I should go in or out . The CJ I had given up on and took to a 4wd shop in my area that shall remain unamed. They shimmed the axle so that it rotated the front of the Dana up and the rear yoke down. Similar to the shims on the rear axle, these are bolted into the spring pack. Also they put a track bar in the front. It goes down the road a lot better than it did, but squirrelly above 45 or so. I thought about a rear sway bar, but never got around to it since it is mainly used as a cruiser around town. I'm glad to hear you are cruising at 75 no problem. The Jeep issues are why I am making sure to get the sway bars installed and pay a little extra attention to the suspension.

It's really difficult to explain how everything should line up, but I'll give it a try.

In a perfect world, the angle of the pinion u-joints (front or back) should be at the same angle as your transfer case u-joints. This guarantees that your u-joint angles are the same which is critical for vibration and longevity. I always make sure this rule applies to the rear axle because this is what powers the truck down the road 99% of the time.
The front axle is a bit more difficult, because if you set the pinion angle to the output angle of the transfer case (ideal) it may not give you the proper caster. IMO, I would rather sacrifice a bit of vibration and u joint life for a much better handling and driving truck. How often do we use 4WD anyways, and it's usually low speed? It would be great if we could adjust the caster/camber relative to the pinion angle, but unfortunately this is set at the factory and not adjustable unless you're willing to cut and relocate the front knuckles.