mattreeve

Anyone have a pic of watts linkage, and do you know if I have watts on a 1982 Gs?

rotarygod

iTrader: (1)

All first gens came with a watts linkage setup.

steve84GS TII

Heres the bottom half....


Theres another link up top that goes the the other side.
As rotarygod said,all 1st gens have them.They do the same job as a panhard bar(lateral location of the axle),but go about it with a slightly different design.

My old GLC had a factory panhard bar,it seemed to work good.I re-bracketed an 82' GSL rearend to accept the GLC's links and panhard,it handled pretty well.Epsecially considering it had a small Chevy V-6 pushing it for almost 10 years.
Its for sale if anyone with a RWD GLC wants to upgrade to discs and LSD....

stilettoman

iTrader: (1)

The Watts Linkage is a much more sophisticated setup than the Panhard rod. The Panhard rod allows the rear axle to move sideways as it travels up and down, not a good thing if you are cornering on rough surfaces. Drag racers use the Panhard rod because it is simpler, and they are not turning. Many auto manufacturers have used them because they are cheap and simple. The Watts linkage allows the rear axle to move only straight up and down.

Some people on this forum may try to persuade you to install the aftermarket panhard rod setup that is available. They may even tell you they bought one and it works better than the stock Panhard rod. It is even possible that, if the old bushings were totally worn out and they installed a panhard rod with good tight bushings, it might work better in some driving situations. But all things being equal, the Panhard rod is much better. Mazda put it on your RX-7 because is about the best control you can have with a live axle car.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_linkage


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhard_rod