adjustable trailing arms

[Phoenyx]

OK, so I'm getting my 7.5, 3.73 rear installed next week. And I have for the rear:

-Edelbrock lower trailing arms
-Edelbrock adjustable uppers
-Edelbrock anti-hop bars
-Edelbrock tubular braces

When it gets installed it's just gonna get bolted in 'as is'. And right after I'm taking it to get a wheel alignment. Will an alignment shop also be able to set up the rear arms? If so what do I tell them to do, set it at -2 degrees? And if they can't do it, what kind of shop would do it?

I've never had this kind of work done so I have no clue on what or where to do?

 

[megaladon6]

a pure alignment shop would only do the alignment which doesn't include the pinion angle. but any competent repair shop should be able to do it and the alignment. i forget where i found the procedure but it's not hard to do, even in a driveway.
when you put the upper arms in, make sure that they're adjusted to the same length, or slightly shorter if the car is lowered, as the stock UCA's

 

[dan2286]

I think all they need is a pinion angle guage. They check it with the car sitting on level ground.

 

[JESSE]

arms

all you have to do is lay your old arms on the ground and adjust the new arm so that the holes line up, that will put you in the ball park.check your pinion angle with a angle meter and set it at 3 to 4 degrees down... you could check your angle before you do any work just to see where it's at ...hope this helps...jesse 😀

 

[Phoenyx]

Cool. I didn't think it would be to hard. They are already suspose to be set to factory length out of the box.

But now I'm not sure on the angle. I have heard from 1 to 5 degrees.

If it makes any difference. It will be backing a stock 305 and a TH350.

 

[JESSE]

arms

the way i understand pinion angle is that you angle it down 3 or 4 degrees because the pinion gear wants to ride up under torque load an with the deflextion in the bushings you end up with 0 or close while under motion...

all i've ever heard was not to go either way to much becaue of the pressure on the u-joint and possible damage.....

i'am glad to see that your up grading your car 😀 thats what makes your car and you different from all the rest....jesse

 

[megaladon6]

i did a search on the angle, basically the rule of thumb is 1-2* neg (down) on a four link street car, 3-4 on a drag car, and 6-7 on a leaf spring. but everybody argues about just how much. if you can find it, use factory spec. also make sure that the trans side is at the same angle.

 

[Vern]

Great stuff. But on another thread you said you were putting some teeny tiny tires on it. Small tires are going the opposite direction of handling & traction mods. I am just wondered if you really want tires that small all the way around. It sounds like a small front tire for more of a street strip drag race oriented car. 215/65/15s were stock on a 15x7 wheeled gbodys (GN/442/MCSS) and many performance oriented cars move to a little wider but stock height 235/60/15 all the way around. Another poster here recently posted pics of his Malibu with suspension handling improvements and the newer Chevy S-10 16" LQ8 wheels. I think he ran 245/50/16s up front and 255/50/16s in the rear and it looked killer.

 

[Phoenyx]

The tires I got (195/60/15) are almost the exact same size as the factory 195/70/14s. So it should be OK. 8)