Watts linkage

[reb78]

I have a knock on the back of the D2. Its the top bearing on the Watts linkage - the one that joins to the link arm to the offside. There is back and forth movement in the plane of the bolt - the bolt is tight, there is obviously play within the bearing. These were genuine and modified to be greasable but have lasted 3-3.5 years. Bit disappointed for the price I paid and I could have put a cheap aftermarket part in there for a third of the price and had it last this long. The centre and bottom bearings are fine but I guess I ought to replace all three when I take it out.

What brand/source are those of you with D2's using for this?

 

[Wozzaaah]

The top and bottom ones are bushes aren't they? I thought only the centre one is a bearing.
I have a Febi one in front of me now and it certainly looks and feels like a bush.
I went for Febi top and bottom and genuine LR for the centre one.
The reason I have one in front of me is another story......

 

[reb78]

Haha. I thought all three of them were bearings but will happily be corrected. I saw the febi ones on advanced factors site - marked Febi Bilstein (i have heard of Bilstein but no idea if that equates to quality for these bits?!)

Centre bearing is ok as are the bushes at the chassis end of the links. I might be a cheapskate and just bung two of the febi upper/lower bushes/bearings in and leave the centre and outer bushes at the end of the link arms for now.

 

[aguycalledsteve]

I have a knock on the back of the D2. Its the top bearing on the Watts linkage - the one that joins to the link arm to the offside. There is back and forth movement in the plane of the bolt - the bolt is tight, there is obviously play within the bearing. These were genuine and modified to be greasable but have lasted 3-3.5 years. Bit disappointed for the price I paid and I could have put a cheap aftermarket part in there for a third of the price and had it last this long. The centre and bottom bearings are fine but I guess I ought to replace all three when I take it out.

What brand/source are those of you with D2's using for this?

Grove Auto Engineering Highly regarded in D2 Community.

They sell refubished items with greasable joints.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Haha. I thought all three of them were bearings but will happily be corrected. I saw the febi ones on advanced factors site - marked Febi Bilstein (i have heard of Bilstein but no idea if that equates to quality for these bits?!)

Centre bearing is ok as are the bushes at the chassis end of the links. I might be a cheapskate and just bung two of the febi upper/lower bushes/bearings in and leave the centre and outer bushes at the end of the link arms for now.

I did some research and Febi seemed to be the ones to go for if you wanted to avoid paying silly money for genuine ones and a genuine centre one seemed to be the one to go for if you wanted it to last for more than a year.
I do think ours was probably still on it's originals which had done close to 200k miles so pretty good really.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Hmmmm.... looking at how the linkage moves they all have to be bearings of some sort, there's far too much swivel motion for any of them to be bonded bushes.

 

[reb78]

Hmmmm.... looking at how the linkage moves they all have to be bearings of some sort, there's far too much swivel motion for any of them to be bonded bushes.

I think they are. If you hold the febi one you have at the bolt holes i bet it will rotate like a bearing?

 

[reb78]

I did some research and Febi seemed to be the ones to go for if you wanted to avoid paying silly money for genuine ones and a genuine centre one seemed to be the one to go for if you wanted it to last for more than a year.
I do think ours was probably still on it's originals which had done close to 200k miles so pretty good really.

Thats good to know. I think I am going to be a cheapskate and leave the centre bearing and change the two outers for now. On the ramp, its a ten min job to get the linkage off.

 

[Wozzaaah]

I think they are. If you hold the febi one you have at the bolt holes i bet it will rotate like a bearing?

I tried that but couldn’t get the inner part to turn at all, certainly not like a roller bearing would.

 

[reb78]

They are stiff. With the leverage of the link arms on there you can feel it move.

 

[Kayos]

Get the greasable one, one of the first things I put on my D2

 

[reb78]

Get the greasable one, one of the first things I put on my D2

Thats whats failed. A genuine one modified to be greasable. 3 years. Cant see the point of spending that money again as aftermarket ought to have that lifespan.

 

[Kayos]

Thats whats failed. A genuine one modified to be greasable. 3 years. Cant see the point of spending that money again as aftermarket ought to have that lifespan.

Always a risk I suppose. I abused mine like the rest of it and never had issue, except drop links popping until I found longer ones (wasn't lifted but spent a lot of time off road)

 

[reb78]

Yeah. I will take a chance on £50 and just replace the failed one and its lower one of the pair (not failed) and see how it lasts.

 

[Bobupndown]

Thats good to know. I think I am going to be a cheapskate and leave the centre bearing and change the two outers for now. On the ramp, its a ten min job to get the linkage off.

Or lying underneath it on axle stands, when you unbolt it all and it falls onto your forehead won't forget that in a hurry! Think I used genuine bushes / bearings on mine.

 

[KemppiFrog]

I was wondering what on earth a D2 was, so clicked on the link. Ah! Disco 2
My Ginetta friend has a heap of rubbish on the garage floor AKA a G2. Known for it's tricky handling, I plan a Watts linkage for the rear end, which is why I looked at this thread....
Interesting stuff.