The D/S measured -3, the pinion +3. What kind of mess do I have?

JamesC

 

That all depends on, compared to what...

Ideally, you want the pinion shaft and the trans mainshaft to be at the same angle; parallel to each other, but offset a bit. If they are not parallel, then the drive shaft will be forced to move front-to-rear several times during each rev, and you'll end up with a nasty humming noise.

You don't want them to line up quite perfectly; you want a small amount of travel in the U-joints, otherwise the rollers in them tend to dig a little narrow rut in the place they happen to be sitting. Just a couple of degrees is about right. So you might measure the engine/trans angle, and find that it's around (say) 3° from horiz, tilted back; then you might measure the pinion angle and find that it's also 3° from horiz; then you might measure the drive shaft and find that it's 5°. That would be about perfect. The pinion and trans would be parallel, and each U-joint would be articulating through about 2°.

Measure it that way, and see what you get.