gmoran1469

I installed my Fays2 watts link last weekend and I am very pleased with the results. My only problem is I can tell the rear end isn't centered anymore. It's probably a 1/4"-1/2" out and it was something I noticed while installing and tried to prevent. Problem was that when I tried to center the axle I didn't have a good way to push the axle relative to the body and I also didn't have a way to keep it there. I am wondering how you guys with watts links centered the rear end before putting on the axle clamps and tightening everything down. I still have it all installed without locktight and I won't do that until it's center. I was trying to think of a creative way to use a c-clamp or something but couldn't find any good points. Looking for advice, thanks in advance!

todcp

Well I can tell you not to used your butt to give it a push...I put a small dent in my fender trying to center

Just have the car on ramps so the suspension is weighted; loosen the axle clamps and give the car a properly place shove to move the car on the axle. It does not take much. Then retighten and done.

I installed my Fays2 with the car on stands to give me more room to work around the finned diff on my Track Pack. The mistake I made was I should have waited to center and tighten after weighting the suspension. Do not center while the car is on stands as it will not be centered when the suspension is weighted.

gmoran1469

I installed mine with the rear end on car ramps since I didn't have a drive on lift. I gave it a good shove but it just wants to go right back to where it was. I need some way to keep it there while I get under the car. Or should I be centering based on the undercarriage and not the fender flares?

AK_Kayaker

You need to beg, borrow or steal a second set of ramps, cause if only the rear is lifted you shift weight forward off of the rear, unloading it slightly.
And as far as a good way to move it, have you considered a ratchet tie down strap, it gives decent amount of pull, as well as control to hold where you need it.

gmoran1469

When it was installed I had the rear on jack stands (under the axle) and the front on ramps with blocks and I leveled it as best I could given the notches on the jack stands. I just adjusted the final position of the axles clamps with the rear on ramps. I measured the gap between the tire and bottom of the fender flare and there was no difference between the rear on ramps and the car on the ground anyway. At least nothing noticeable without a set of calipers.

I will give the ratchet strap a try, sounds like it should work.

Also, even if the rear end is unloaded slightly, shouldn't the geometry of the watts link keep the rear end centered when loaded? The watts bars won't be perfectly parallel with the rear axle but they will be equal and opposite angles if they were set parallel with the axle when it was unloaded. According to Fays2 this is still an acceptable setup with equal but opposite angles. Now the propeller will no longer be at 7 and 1 o'clock respectively but sit closer to 6 and 12.

AK_Kayaker

It probably would not make a huge difference, but for me it is always worth the little extra effort, but again all my friends hate working on cars with me as they say I'm too picky. But if the manufacturer says it should be fine, well heck they designed it.
Good luck have fun and post lots of pics.

tbear853

"Power Pull" or as we called them, a "Come Along" (coupled with a short chain and bolt if you can't find something to hook to).

When I lowered the rear just over an inch, I loosened the pan hard bar mount bolts and used a come along to pull the axle right in relation to the frame before tightening, the result was "very nearly centered" (but not quite exact, it still was a hair to the left) axle without any mods.

Recently I "fine tuned" my factory pan hard bar's mount hole on the frame right side .... by removing the bolt and dropping the bar (car on stands) and using a dremel tool and attachment to elongate the holes in the frame mount to allow me to move the rear axle another 1/8" to the right, which removes 1/8" on one side while adding it on the other. I again used the come along to pull the axle towards the right before tightening the bolts. Retightened to spec, remove come along.

The chain is in case you can't find a stout place to hook the hook. The bolt is to secure the chain to a hole.

Now it's centered about perfect.

I think the come along would be better than "lighter duty" ratchet straps especially if the car's weight is on the suspension as when centering a watts link set up. Heavier duty or high quality ratchet straps might do OK.

gmoran1469

I use a small 1" ratchet strap and it worked fine even with the suspension loaded. Now it's centered within 0.5mm

tbear853

Oh yeah, we have some 1" straps that will work fine .... and then over in the bargain bin are some yellow ones that will tear real easy.