correct angle for a drive shaft with 2 joints

[2manymustangs]

joe should one be up one degree and the other down one degree ? so the motor sits kind of level to the stringers?

When I built my motor plates to install my 385 series BBF in my sanger I set them up to have the driveshaft run at a strait shot into the Casale. The Casale box was unchanged from the factory mount / position...

I can't see how there is any alternative to perfect alighnment between your strut/prop shaft/casale output... The Casale angle/position can't change once the strut is set as GN7 stated... Except for maybe forward and UP...

[Mitch]

Straight inline being a problem is a myth. The joints would out last your next 5 cars and 3 boats.
Think about it, if the joints we dead inline, nothing moves, including the needles everyone seems to think would fail, supposedly from lack of lube or some such nonsense. You wouldn't need lube. You wash the lube out and run it just fine. Nothing is moving. You could weld the u joint to the yokes and it would work fine.
1* is not as great, but it beats 25 all to hell. I can find you dozens of pictures u joint failure due to excessive angle in manufacture's tech bulletins and , you can't find me one due to lack of angle.

Hes a re rig new stringers no holes and yes I get strut angle versus v drive with a exesting strut I talked with Michael today on the phone and figured you would have some good input also. He thinking his v drive may lean 2 degrees forward .

[Mitch]

When I built my motor plates to install my 385 series BBF in my sanger I set them up to have the driveshaft run at a strait shot into the Casale. The Casale box was unchanged from the factory mount / position...

I can't see how there is any alternative to perfect alighnment between your strut/prop shaft/casale output... The Casale angle/position can't change once the strut is set as GN7 stated... Except for maybe forward and UP...

Straight in will work, u joint mfgs reccomend at least 2 degrees pre loading a shaft can prevent whip on longer shafts and helps with drive shaft harmonics .

[2manymustangs]

Straight in will work, u joint mfgs reccomend at least 2 degrees pre loading a shaft can prevent whip on longer shafts and helps with drive shaft harmonics .

Yep, I know that in car/truck applications it's pretty important for Ujoint longevity/chatter/lubrication of the needles...

I just did what I saw others doing when it came to setting up my motor plates AND the way it appeared to be set up from Sanger when my hydro was sporting a BBC (with factory motor plates)...

[gn7]

Hes a re rig new stringers no holes and yes I get strut angle versus v drive with a exesting strut I talked with Michael today on the phone and figured you would have some good input also. He thinking his v drive may lean 2 degrees forward .

His V drive angle is what the prop shaft angle says it its. No matter where the box gets mounted, the top shaft angle is going to be whatever it is due to the prop shaft ange. He could put a prop shaft in it that 4ft too long and the box is on the deck, the angle of the box is the same.

Where the box falls in the boat is determined by the shaft angle as well. You can move it forward, if you move it up like 2MM said, but who does that?
If you with the prop location, which is where you should start, then the v drive is where it is. When they used to sell stage one boats they had the strut installed. You didn't need to know where to put the box, it just went on the other end of the shaft.
Now if we move on to the engine, and decide it goes here>>>>+<<<<<<< you have really narrowed down you abilty to change the drive shaft angle.
Strut position and angle---check
v drive location and angle --check
engine location----check

so we are left with engine height, up and down(until the pan hits the floor), and tilt.

This is a MoPar RB. Odds of him getting the engine too low are slim and zero, so that leaves him with how many options to mess with drive shaft angle. Get that ONE remaining part wrong, and its the difference between a u joint that last a summer, or 10.

OR,..........we can build the entire boat around the idea of the perfect u joint angle.

[Mitch]

Bob if you read post 12 you could have saved the typing cramps

[WESTERNAERO]

Micheal, when you get closer to putting this back together would you like me to make you something like the pic. I'll make a generic drawing, you plug it the numbers and I'll redraw it with your numbers. It might give you a better understanding if you are looking at it on paper. There are a lot more dimensions needed than the pic, that's just an example. Then you and Joe can go over it together and make adjustments where you need them.

[gn7]

Bob if you read post 12 you could have saved the typing cramps

That's my point. The angle on the drive shaft is set in stone, unless he moves something.
What was the point of saying his v drive might lean forward 2*. How would he go about changing that. By relocating the strut or changing the prop shaft angle? By changing the v drive angle to an 8* from a 10? or a 10* from a 12 which ever the case may be?

From the time I started rigging my boat, until I was setting the engine and making plates, I never gave a thought to the drive shaft or u joint angles. Why would I?
It the boat isn't currently rigged, then you just rig it. Period. Worry about the drive shaft and U joints angle when you get there.

Curious. You say the strut isn't set. Is the shaft hole plugged? Or is he willing to fill it if he moves the strut or angle?
If the hole is filled, you know why nobody asks where the hole goes? Yep, it goes where the shaft would hit the boat. Drive shaft angle is pretty much the same.
U joint angle is a little different, but you deal with that when you get there.


OR ..... as I asked, is he considering rigging this boat around a drive shaft angle and that's why the question is being ask.

[Mitch]

After talking to him he said the strut is in the same location and angle as before no v drive holes in the new stringers he stated the the v drive leanned 2 degrees forward I told told him drill new holes and put it exactly were it was before. Line it back up with the shaft is all you can do .

[SnoC653]

That's my point. The angle on the drive shaft is set in stone, unless he moves something.
What was the point of saying his v drive might lean forward 2*. How would he go about changing that. By relocating the strut or changing the prop shaft angle? By changing the v drive angle to an 8* from a 10? or a 10* from a 12 which ever the case may be?

From the time I started rigging my boat, until I was setting the engine and making plates, I never gave a thought to the drive shaft or u joint angles. Why would I?
It the boat isn't currently rigged, then you just rig it. Period. Worry about the drive shaft and U joints angle when you get there.

Curious. You say the strut isn't set. Is the shaft hole plugged? Or is he willing to fill it if he moves the strut or angle?
If the hole is filled, you know why nobody asks where the hole goes? Yep, it goes where the shaft would hit the boat. Drive shaft angle is pretty much the same.
U joint angle is a little different, but you deal with that when you get there.


OR ..... as I asked, is he considering rigging this boat around a drive shaft angle and that's why the question is being ask.

He has said before that his strut is a 10* and his Vdrive is a 12*. If he changes to a 7 or 8* strut, that would put his Rewarders pointed almost up at the sky unless he changed Vdrives too.

It always amazes me when someone gets a boat to work and then they take it apart and don't record where everything was at before hand. Hopefully, he measured the angles of the prop shaft and driveshaft before he took it all apart. It is possible that his 10* strut was sitting at 9 or maybe 8.5* depending on how they had it sitting. In one of his other posts he said he had this one taking a good set finally. If so, that is where he should put everything back, unless he is planning on buying some new hardware (strut, v-drive, engine plates, possibly a shaft log).