February 16, 2017             

The Truth About “Ford Approved Watts Links”

It has been promoted by one of our competitors that theirs is only Watts Link that is approved by Ford Racing. To clarify, the sole reason the Griggs Racing Watts Links are not a "Ford Racing approved product" is we never sought such status. Here is why:

Our history dealing with Ford:

Our dealings with Ford go back to the late 90s when we made a large run of light weight drag racing K members and LCAs for the old SVO catalog. It took nearly 2 years to get paid due to foul-ups within Ford. Also each time they developed a Cobra R model starting in 1991 for the 93 model, engineers contacted us wanting to produce the cars with our systems. We were naturally eager to contribute, and spent innumerable ours on the first two projects engineering, planning and quoting, however Ford’s bean counters, nepotism, and/or lack of adequate lead time precluded our involvement in what could have been much better factory race cars at that time.

Also, Griggs Racing had been previously been a SVO dealer for some time, but we quit due to the slim margins that made it unprofitable for us to inventory the product. Later, around 2001 as I recall, around the time of SVO being restructured into Rod Racing, we purchased a new 2001 Cobra Motor from Ford Racing for a customer upgrade of a 96 Cobra. Upon start up, the engine had a serious vibration and we spent many hours chasing eliminating every possible external cause, before calling Ford Racing to tell them the problem was internal, and the customer would not accept the engine. We asked them what to do and they said tear it down and rebalance it, and they would reimburse us.

We proceeded, and I made the point of taking the rotating assembly to Huffaker Engineering for the balance work so that a reputable third party would validate our claim without suspicion. I don’t recall the figure exactly but it was out something like 150 grams. After reassembly the engine ran smooth, customer accepted it. Sent the bill to Ford Racing but, they never paid it. A year later at PRI, I talked to the person at Ford Racing that authorized the rebalance and he said (the bill is still on his desk, but it’s too expensive for him to submit.” I asked what he had expected, and he said he had no idea “A couple of hundred maybe.” Right…To remove an engine, disassemble, reassemble and reinstall, plus outside balancing charges, we get $200? The head Gaskets cost over $200 at that time. Should our little company have sued Ford of all people? My bad… I had no PO or written authorization. We lost about 3 grand on that one. That added to the incredible slow pay for the first 85 K-members and control arm sets we sold them, all the wasted time on the Cobra R dead-ends, and the dismal margin on SVO parts, by 2004 I had made the decision to discontinue dealing with Ford corporate at any level other than to selling to Ford employees directly for their own use. And so we could not care less if they “authorize” our products. We operate completely independent of Ford so that there is no compromise in our product.

History of Mustang Watts Links:

We were the first to bring Watts Links to The Mustang Market. It became a buzz word some years ago when GR40 Mustangs with Watts links were winning so often in all sorts of events. Our Watts Links have gone through several design changes and we offer a broad range of applications beyond Mustangs that are in use on thousands of vehicles ranging, from 9inch rears fitted to 69 Camaros and Chevy and Toyota Pick-ups, to Miatas and Nissan 300 ZXs with 8.8 rears and LS swaps. We make the lightest strength to weight ratio Watts units on the market, with the most versatility for use with any differential cover. If you have a cast cover we supply the tool to simply modify your cover to fit.

Our late comer competitor copied our dimensional design from the roll center placement, bell-crank and support design, Delrin bushing design down to the thousandths of an inch, this was because he worked for us prior, became a customer/dealer, had access to our CAD data base, and violated his confidentiality agreement with us when he started copying our parts. When we objected he made subtle redesigns to say they were original art. (There is a whole text on this if anybody is interested in the entire story).

And with that said, we have been selling Watts links for Mustangs since 2002, while they have since when? 2012? Our warranty is strong, and yet we have NEVER replaced any component, nor have we ever heard of one of our Watts Links failing. And NEVER have we sold a replacement part for wear.

Not all Watts links are the same:

Unlike our competitor, every component on all of our Watts Links is quality made in the USA, including all the material which is sourced from US mills, along with all the grade 8 fasteners. I don’t know where all his material comes from but, our rod ends are PTFE lined and manufactured to our specification with a preload on the ball that assures they virtually never rattle or wear out. Theirs are made in China. Due to their very low cost, years ago we tested those rod ends and found them to loosen up and get noisy after time, and their service life to be shorter than the US made units we still currently use. Plus rod ends should deform or fail first in certain conditions of minor impacts to prevent excessive damage to more expensive components. Their rod end housings are heavier, with no provision to yield and fail when we need them to. Ours will bend and deform if over-articulated but still stay connected long after our competitors have broken something else. (Theirs are shinier, I’ll give them that).

Now there are other Watt Links on the market, mass produces low dollar units. These are tenuous at best. These companies spend their money marketing instead of developing. Some are chassis mounted which generally will perform worse than a properly located Panhard Bar, and weigh much more. Other competitors offer what appear to be import units made with low quality fasteners, and are heavier, with bushings that bind, so these deliver subpar performance, and have proven to fail under arduous track use.

Of course you would think all this makes Griggs Racing cost a little more. You do, after all, get what you pay for. And, though we sell girdles machined as light as possible with oil cooler ports as does our main Watts link competitor, our Spider Watts Link center kit is actually less expensive, stronger, and has much lighter un-sprung weight when installed on an 8.8 rear with a stock style differential cover, instead of the heavy girdle system they employ. And in truth, girdles are usually unnecessary on most cars.

Availability

And another reason given for their Ford approval was availability. Well, Griggs Racing Watts Links have been available continuously since 2004 and still are. Our competitor published in forums and on their website that we had gone out of business when we were down-sizing and moving at the end of 2010 during the Recession. More detail is available on this in another document that may be published at a later date.

Further to availability, we will soon be offering units for Chevy 10 bolt, and Dana 44 and Dana 60 axles.

Conclusion:

My experience dictates gaining Ford Racing approval is more a result of politics than product merit. So if you are comparing Watts Links in consideration of a purchase, my hope is this helps your decision process.

     - Bruce Griggs