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I got my custom made 5* shims installed yesterday and am happy to report that the vibration is about 95% gone! I hesitate to say it's completely gone, although I'm probably hyper-sensitive to it right now and am not sure if I'd even notice if I wasn't constantly looking for it. They gave me about an extra 1/2" of drop as well, since they essentially act as a block, but thus far I'm happy with the truck is sitting.
I got the shims from a guy at the link below and had them made so that they bolt into the leaf pack and fit properly under the spring perch. Total cost was $57, I ordered them on 6/5 and received them on 6/15, although his website states they may take up to 6 weeks depending on backlog status. http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...ustomWidthShim
If anyone is interested, they're 2.5" x 5" with two 1/2" holes drilled 40mm apart on-center and the center of the first hole spaced 1-3/16" back from the fat end of the shim. They're also steel shims, so no worry about them cracking like the aluminum ones are reported to do.
The shim.
Bolted in place with factory bolts. The front bolt only engages about 2/3 of the threads on the nut, but it should be fine.
The fit on the spring perch, much better than the crappy BellTech shims!
Have you actually measured pinion angle or guessing?
Have you actually measured pinion angle or guessing?
I took some measurements using an app on my phone, but unfortunately only after the truck was already lowered. This meant I didn't have a starting measurement, and also meant it was awfully damn hard to fit under the truck and take good measurements, lol.
I also made the mistake of trusting that BellTech had TRULY properly engineered the parts of this kit to correct the pinion angle as they stated that they did.
Anyway, after the install, and using their crappy 3* shims, I had a slight vibration. Not wanting to make any permanent changes without being sure (ie, cutting out the CB support), I removed their shim to see what happened. This made things much worse, which told me I was going in the wrong direction. So, as somewhat of an educated guess, I had a set of 5* shims made. This helped, and it's better than the 3* shims were, but still not perfect.
Life has been crazy for the past few months and I haven't gotten around to following up on this further, but I think I've found a good driveline shop that I'm going to try and have take a look at it soon and give me their opinion to see if I can smooth this out completely.
Spicer has a video that is probably 25 years old on doing the math on a multiple piece or supported driveshaft. Getting the working angle right has nothing to do with the difference between the pinion CL and the driveshaft. If you have a one piece driveshaft you are comparing the angle of the trans output shaft CL to the angle of the pinion CL and pointing the pinion CL down a bit from the trans shaft CL to compensate for the pinion gear trying to climb the ring gear. If you have a carrier bearing then the math gets slightly more difficult, maybe a 5th grade level, but still needs to be done. Do not just start throwing shims and carrier bearing relocation at the truck until you do the math. Then you have to take in to consideration the age of the truck and mount settle, etc. If you did not check the working angle prior to lowering or raising the truck you have to start at a certain angle and work your way to nirvana.
Yes, it can get pretty technical. As I originally posted though, since I have the same truck and already did the leg work...his truck will like 3-4* difference between the pinion and rear shaft.
It brings back aggravating memories with these Bell Tech stories. Years ago (94) I had a chevy 3500 crew cab dually after reading many magazine reviews ordered a bell tech 5/7 drop. The kit included a 1.25" carrier bearing spacer and had an absolutely terrible drive line problem. After a call to them I was told it needs a 2" spacer. why the heck didn't they send the correct one in the kit? Of course all the rags couldn't point out that the spacer was wrong as they wouldn't want to tick off an advertiser would they.
what is with all the "bye" posts? someone **** in his post toasties?
Not sure, he's gone back and edited all but 2 of his posts to just say "BYE". I don't remember what his post said, but the 2 that are left aren't anything special and there doesn't appear to be any drama... oh well. Bye! lol
Originally Posted by toledoUPSguy
It brings back aggravating memories with these Bell Tech stories. Years ago (94) I had a chevy 3500 crew cab dually after reading many magazine reviews ordered a bell tech 5/7 drop. The kit included a 1.25" carrier bearing spacer and had an absolutely terrible drive line problem. After a call to them I was told it needs a 2" spacer. why the heck didn't they send the correct one in the kit? Of course all the rags couldn't point out that the spacer was wrong as they wouldn't want to tick off an advertiser would they.
I definitely wasn't impressed with BellTech's response when I called and spoke to them about this, and you actually got someone with more knowledge than I did, as they actually proposed a working solution. The guy I spoke with basically just said "take it to a driveline shop"...
Mine has a shudder too but it was there before I lowered it. It does it between 20-30 mph and I don't know why. As for as my pinion angle my driveshaft is in a perfectly straight line from transmission to diff.
11-20-2017, 06:22 AM
