Watts Link

[endeavor]

Does anyone have experience (good or bad) using a watts link setup in an off-road racing vehicle?

[SPONSOR]

Membership in the largest desert racing community has its advantages - Participate in Forum Discussions - Send and Receive Private Messages - Maintain Public Photo Albums - Access to Groups - User Profile in our Social Network - Increased Access to more Sub Forums - Reduced Online Advertisements Join our community today

[DUMP!]

Does anyone have experience (good or bad) using a watts link setup in an off-road racing vehicle?

I don't think it would be very practical to use a Watts Link for the amount of wheel travel we have in a off road set up.

Dump

[endeavor]

I don't think it would be very practical to use a Watts Link for the amount of wheel travel we have in a off road set up.

Dump

I'm in a Class 3 with only about 8 inches of travel, ...make a difference?

[DUMP!]

Well anything can be "made" to work.

The way a watts link works would mean that the parts could end up on the rather large side and that could translate into a packaging problem. In don't know the correct terminology, but with a watts link you have a "rocker" (for lack of a better term) that is mounted directly in the center of the axle housing on a bearing so that it can pivot freely. Also weather that rocker is mounted to the top of the axle or below the axle will make a difference as to how the vehicle works (I.E. roll center). This rocker is perfectly symetrical, has a attachment point in front of the axle housing and a second attachment point behind the axle housing. From each attachment point there is a link that attaches to the chassis on opposing sides, these links are also equal length. As the axle housing cycles threw it's travel the links swing threw a arc thus causing the rocker to pivot about it's bearing mnt. This is what allows the system to keep the axle housing properly aligned in the chassis. Weather this system will work will depend entirely on the length of each component and/or the size of the rod ends used. The more travel you have translates into a larger (longer) rocker and/or larger (bigger diamiter ball) rod ends. Why?? because the more travel you have, the more twist (movement) you will see in the rocker set up. This twist (movement) will likely use up all the available travel of the ball in the rod end. To counter act this you would need to make the rocker larger (longer) or use a larger (bigger diamiter ball) rod end to get more travel from the ball. You can place the rod end in such a way that the ball travel is of little or no concern with respect to the rockers movement but then it becomes a concern as to how much wheel travel the rod end will allow as the suspension cycles threw it's travel. So it will be a concern either way. Also the size of the rocker will need to be considered because you don't want there to be any chance that the rocker could approach "center" or travel "past center" as the suspension travels from top to bottom. And to top it off all this needs to package into the chassis and the surrounding area. Not an easy task I would suspect.

Dump

[endeavor]

Believe it or not, I completely understood what you wrote! Great job with the description on how this works - thanks much! Very helpful...

[Outcast]

Additionally, it would be very tricky to try and get all those joints into double shear. I have yet to see a Watts link with double sheared pivot points. I don't think you would want single shear points controlling lateral axle location on a desert car.

[151fab]

Don't forget about ground clearance. Traditionally a watt's is placed so that the center pivot is about even with axle centerline at ride height. You could move the whole package up but you'd have to go pretty far up to clear the oversized "rocker"