watts linkage Idea

[justanova]

i was thumbing through the afco catalog the other day and came accross the "J" bars that cirle track cars use instead of a panhard bar. The "J" bar curves over the top of the pinion on a ford 9". could these J bars be used on a watts linkage witha frame mounted bellcrank and a j bar running to each end of the axle? then the main part of the bar would be at approximately axle center line on each side and then exhaust routing wouldn't be a problem, probably easier than a panhard bar.

what do you suspension experts think?

[justanova]

http://www.secureperformanceorder.com/afcostore/getproduct.cfm?CategoryID=14&ClassID=183&SubclassID=876&ProductID=952

this is the link to a J bar

[wally8]

Hey everyone, new guy here. Nice forum you all have.

Justanova,

I'm sure you could make that configuration work but the picture is deceiving. Those things are big. Those heim ends are 1" just to give you an idea of the size. Probably a little overkill for a Watts link. Also they're fairly long since they're meant to go from one side of the frame to the other side of the differential. To top it off, they aren't light either. They're pretty thick. The only time we've ever bent one was when we hit a wall. Hitting other cars doesn't usually phase them.

Later...

Wally

[justanova]

http://www.secureperformanceorder.com/afcostore/getproduct.cfm?CategoryID=14&ClassID=183&SubclassID=876&ProductID=953

They show these as a cut-to-lenght wich should work to get the length down, and as far as the weight goes at least it would be on the rear of the car where most muscle cars are "weight bias challenged" and with a chassis mounted bellcrank most of the weight would be unsprung weight. I was just thinking something like this could help the packaging problems usually associated with a watts linkage

anyone else have any thoughts?

[Opentracker]

I built a Watts Linkage for our '66 coup using a lot of parts from AFCO. The axle mounts are from them as are the tubes and rod ends. I had to shorten the axle mounts to fit the car. It's a bolt in unit and has a chassis mounted pivot that is in line with the roll center of the rear end. The car has rear brake coolers, full tail pipes (to make sound at Laguna Seca) and will have a adjustable rear sway bar mounted under the frame of the Watts link, with the arms going forward to pick up the rear end mounts. It's in mock-up right now but I hope to drive it soon and the car will be clean before it hits the track. I bought it not long ago and it needs a lot of work.
http://home.earthlink.net/~myradpc/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/wattsonfloor.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~myradpc/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/wattsaxle.jpg


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