Double cardon prop shaft angles vs standard prop?

[rcx106]

I've just checked the prop shaft on my Vitara which has 4" suspension lift. It's only done a few thousand miles since new UJs were fitted and the UJ's already have more wear than my spare stock Vitara has on it's original UJs after 23'000 miles! My textbooks state that prop shafts should run at no more than 7 degrees, and my lifted Vitara has 14 degrees on the prop, due to the suspension lift, so twice over the limit.

I think I can reduce the angle a bit by moving the gearbox height but I can't do that just yet as I can't do big jobs right now.

I've seen double cardon prop shafts. These use two UJs side by side effectively creating a "bridge" setup (and a third at the other end which runs at 0 degrees and hence doesn't cause issues). So, as I understand, if there's two UJs in bridge, as there are on a double cardon prop, and the total angle of the prop is 14 degrees, then each UJ is at 7 degrees hence bringing it back into allowable limits? I asked this when I took my car into the prop specialist in Bristol, but he said it doesn't work like that but didn't explain why. And my textbooks don't state the limits on double cardons... so how to find out? The prop specialist isn't really talking to me any more, he seems way too busy with better paying projects

Edited by rcx106 on Sunday 29th June 16:52