Disco 2, Watts linkage

MJI said:

At the moment, but give it a couple of years and then there will be few nice ones for sale

Click to expand...

Yup, there are nice ones appearing regularly, needing chassis work.

Watts linkage, just ordered up the complete assembly, rods and swivels, should be here Friday / Saturday

Ok That's my assembly arrived, I now understand why if some parts are replaced with bushes they fail quickly, reason they are NOT bushes, these two outer PARTS are basically more like universal swivels, (possibly a ball) there is NO movement detectable either up or down, or back or forward, but they swivel in any other direction, I will try and post a video to show this, their ARE 3 bushes in the assembly, one in the middle of the link with the long bolt and one at either end of the long arm.

Yeah they're actually bearings aren't they

Edit now I've read your post properly...

The only typical bushes are in the outer link arms

The middle part in the centre linkage is a roller bearing and I get what you mean about the upper and lower 'bushes', they're very much like little swivels aren't they

Thanks for the reply, well that's it done, a fairly straightforward job, end bush nuts were fairly tight, but an extra large spanner on the first one sorted that,
The removal and fitting, just a couple of pointers to make life easy, most of us don't have access to a two post ramp so here is how I went about the change,
1st just reverse the landy up onto the small ramps, this gives plenty of room to loosen the nuts, BUT the long bolt cannot be withdrawn as the tank is in the way, no big deal,
2nd drive the landy back down and jack the chassis up, this then gives loads of room to withdraw the bolt, as obviously the axle drops, I had another assembly to go in, again straightforward, just a wiggle about with a podger to line the third hole up.

some canker on your chassis, How old is the car? i did my linkage in the Autumn, Genuine bushes, Radius arms to, then it get the pre winter treatment, picture of the silver one i had, but the black one gets the same every year!

discodrivercumbria said:

some canker on your chassis, How old is the car?

Click to expand...

I was thinking that, my D1 from 1992 has a lot less rust on it

I am not a fan of the WATTS linkage, seems to be a lot more moving parts and components so hardly a saving in weight or machining, assembly time is it, if anything the back axle was over engineered as it already runs rear radius arms attached to the axle at two points so a simple panhard should have sufficed, save the WATTS allows the axle to remain virtually parallel in plane throughout suspension travel, maybe it refines the rear axle handling but I doubt it improves it much.

A frame and trailing arms were simple and very effective, D1 had 7 seat capacity too so not that, 7 seat D2s were only available on air suspension so not really sure?

Ian Mackay said:

View attachment 138998

Click to expand...

Looks worse than it is, typically 90% is 3mm stainless plated, or zintec, covered in underseal and crap lol

discodrivercumbria said:

some canker on your chassis, How old is the car? i did my linkage in the Autumn, Genuine bushes, Radius arms to, then it get the pre winter treatment, picture of the silver one i had, but the black one gets the same every year!

Click to expand...

18 years old, used every day in Scottish gritted roads 180,000 miles, that's an old pic 90% of chassis is now plated

Ian Mackay said:

18 years old, used every day in Scottish gritted roads 180,000 miles, that's an old pic 90% of chassis is now plated

Click to expand...

discodrivercumbria said:

some canker on your chassis, How old is the car? i did my linkage in the Autumn, Genuine bushes, Radius arms to, then it get the pre winter treatment, picture of the silver one i had, but the black one gets the same every year!

Click to expand...

Is that a forklift holding your landy up ?

dieseldog69 said:

I was thinking that, my D1 from 1992 has a lot less rust on it

I am not a fan of the WATTS linkage, seems to be a lot more moving parts and components so hardly a saving in weight or machining, assembly time is it, if anything the back axle was over engineered as it already runs rear radius arms attached to the axle at two points so a simple panhard should have sufficed, save the WATTS allows the axle to remain virtually parallel in plane throughout suspension travel, maybe it refines the rear axle handling but I doubt it improves it much.

A frame and trailing arms were simple and very effective, D1 had 7 seat capacity too so not that, 7 seat D2s were only available on air suspension so not really sure?

Click to expand...

Had the 200 then 300 chassis was better than D2 but bodies were shot.

Ian Mackay said:

View attachment 139024

Is that a forklift holding your landy up ?

Click to expand...

JCB Telehandler, best lift it has had! waxoyl mixed with digger grease/cyclip oil, just passed MOT at lakeland landrover, they also checked it with a fine tooth comb, solid as a rock underneath, 130miles 04, pursuit!

Never got started till twelve today, but still plenty of time to finish, would have taken longer if bushes had to be removed & replaced.

Ian Mackay said:

Never got started till twelve today, but still plenty of time to finish, would have taken longer if bushes had to be removed & replaced.

Click to expand...

Well put a few miles on the Disco, great to be rid of the clunking, I know its not much but the whole ride seems much more positive, topped up rear axle while lying there, also wire brushed plate on axle and rear sub frame, which then got treated to a coat of black gloss yacht enamel, back to work tomorrow, now what's next, steering box probably, seems heavier.