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Re: Skidmore '67 C20
As part of mocking everything up, I went to measure the pinion angle with the flipped trailing arm brackets and the lowered ride height... I was expecting it to be perfect. It was off by 4*! I cursed and started researching shims, but reason prevailed and I pulled everything apart.
I flipped the trailing arm brackets back to the stock orientation, and found that the pinion angle is perfect that way. Currie must make these axles assuming that people drop their trucks. Crisis averted, but I wasted the effort of removing the rivets, flipping the brackets, and then taking everything out twice. Oh well, all's well that ends well.
As part of pulling the driveshaft to check the pinion angle, I also planned to replace the carrier bearing and clean the U-joints. I have the old style stud mount. I saw a lot of discussion about switching to a one-piece or the later "girdle" type carrier bearing. Both of these required a new driveshaft. I'll wait for an LS swap before worrying about a new driveshaft. The replacement Timken bearing carrier was only $17. I gave it a shot of hammertone paint to hopefully delay the crust-ification. I haven't installed it yet, but the old parts came apart really easily considering they are probably original. If you are doing this job, remember to mark all of the matching ends with a paint pen to assemble it the same orientation for balancing. I also got my new 1350 to 1330BC U-joint to install before going back in.
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