Watt's linkage instead of a panhard bar?

[MY1PATH]

I stumbled across this one day;

 

Watt's Linkage

 

and after reading up about it seems like it would give a solid axle allot more freedom to articulate vs. a panhard bar

and keep it much more centerd while doing so.

I seen em on landrovers and theres conversion kits for muscle cars out there but I havn't seen em on any other 4x4s

 

It'd be an interesting thing to try I suppose

[tekazgtr1984]

That looks like a great idea. I'm definitely going to research this to see if it'd work on my R50.

[Legalalien]

Iiiiintresting, very very iiiiintresting; I think I'll keep an eye on this one.

[Legalalien]

Hey guys, I found this variation; i think that it would work beter for our application.

 

http://www.tsmmfg.com/Watts_Linkage.htm

[88pathoffroad]

It's got more parts and is more complicated than a simple panhard rod. Extra mounts, holes etc would have to be fabbed. I don't think there's any real guarantee of any benefits from converting an existing panhard-equipped axle with a Watts linkage setup instead. Is there?

 

If mounted up high enough it would reduce your chances of hanging up on the panhard rod when offroading...coil springs would stay seated better...?

[GrimGreg]

More parts mean more things that can break, bind, or need servicing.

[unccpathfinder]

You also have to lower your ground clearance b/c if you notice the movement of the linkages when the vehicle would be at full flex the center linkage would be below the axle (not good IMO)

 

but it does look like on the ranger suspension that they have it so when the suspension is maxed out that it will not protrude below the axle tube but to me it doesnt look like it has a lot of flex available

 

The panhard does a pretty good job on our trucks and I think the time and effort to optimize the watts would be well beyond using the panhard

[87pathy]

watts linkage is for street rods.

 

you won't get the axle travel with it as you will a pan hard.. or just do the math, run duel triangulated links and get rid of the pan hard.

[MY1PATH]

watts linkage is for street rods.

 

you won't get the axle travel with it as you will a pan hard.. or just do the math, run duel triangulated links and get rid of the pan hard.

thats prolly why I hadn't seen it on allot of 4x4's save for the LandRollovers