[Lugnutz65]

I have the good fortune of owning three trucks with the same exact suspension set up. All three trucks are short bed trucks with original suspension. The pinion on all three trucks points up towards the floor of the bed. As you are aware, these trucks have brackets welded to the rear axle tubes. That makes changing the angle of the pinion impossible unless you change the brackets. Lowering the rear of the truck with lowering springs does make the pinion angle more horizontal, but this truck has factory suspension.

I mocked up a crossmember for the transmission yesterday. I will be able to make the transmission angle parallel to the pinion angle.

What had me perplexed was the cartoon diagram I posted earlier. It shows a drive shaft that angles downward from front to rear. That part is correct. In the drawing, if you draw a straight line out of the transmission towards the rear axle, that line will come out ABOVE the pinion, instead of below the pinion. In all three of my trucks, the pinion is pointed upward towards the bed. If you draw a straight line from the transmission main shaft towards the back of the truck, it will end up below the pinion instead of above the pinion.

I will sit down soon and draw diagrams to show my setup since photos are often difficult to interpret.