Drive Shaft Alignment

[Axel 427]

Still learning the car, so please excuse if this is a stupid question. I was under the car looking at the leaking transmission seal and I noticed the drive shaft is not aligned straight from the transmission to the diff. I can stick my hand between the shaft and the tunnel wall on the right side, can't do this on the left side. What the hell??? Is this normal? Maybe I'm crossed eyed. Hopefully somebody out there can tell me............

Vance

[CHANMADD]

The output shaft of the transmission and the input for the diff need to be parallel, in both planes, that is what the universal joints are for ....so as long as there are no vibrations you are all good

[sllib]

The theory is that a little kink in the U-joints puts pressure on the roller bearings and forces them to rotate, which keeps the grease moving around inside. Sounds good to me.
Bill

[BDR0572]

I would just do the normal checks with the diff issue u had a couple weeks ago u could have bumped it out, check your Trans mount to make sure it is still good ,check DS align with xmsn and diff measure gaps at u joints and ds to make sure they are close they wont be perfect but at least close. But it is probably good.

[bobcowan]

Maybe it's OK, and maybe it's not. As said above, the drive shaft should not be straight. But, the pinion angles need to be properly aligned in both planes - vertical and horizontal.

Do a google search on "pinion angle" and you'll find some excellent articles on getting this done.