It been quite a while since I had the chance to look underneath and compare the setup nor is there a A body or C body near me to look. I have been curious to why the C body's have the brake reaction rods and the A bodys don't. The both have un equal length A arms if i'm correct? Only thing I can think of is the lower arms on the A bodys are wider and more stable?
Just a guess, but it may be more due to the big cars having only a single frame mounting point for the lower control arm, offering little front to rear stability, while the A bodies had triangular lowers with two frame mounting points. The reaction rods provide the "triangularity" stability for the big cars. Devon
Sure helps! Sorry for the crude illustration. The arrow represents direction of braking force trying to move the big car lower control arm. The reaction rod in green is supporting the arm so it can better withstand the braking force. Devon
It's not crude, it shows exactly how the forces would work Do the lower control arms on the big body's have only one bushing in the middle where it connects to the frame?
FYI, out of curiosity I took another look at my assembly manual. The big cars kept the single mount lower + reaction rod through the 1970 model year. In the '71 MY they switched to a triangular lower control arm, two frame mounts and no reaction rod. Devon
Thanks for the link! Looking back at the early version it looks like the sway bar links are also mounted through the reaction rods right after the bolt on the lower arm?
