Panhard rod for XK150

I am wondering if anyone has had luck mounting a Panhard rod to the rear of a XK150. I know that the saloons have such an arrangement but not sure if anyone has a similar solution for the XK150. Ideas???

Because of the effect of the mounting of the leaf springs, why do you think it needs a Panhard rod?

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No Panhard rod needed, not even recommended, as the leaf springs will keep the axel in place.
Quite different as the MK1/2 has is a life axel, where the axel is mounted on the end of the leaf spring.

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Thanks Peter, I am trying to limit the amount of axle tramp I get under acceleration especially on rough surfaces. This is all made worse with the open diff. Also I find a lot lateral movement of the axle when cornering, made worse again under acceleration. Panhards used to be the cheap and simple ways to address both issues.

Unless your bushings are shot, I can’t imagine driving a 150 hard enough to get “a lot” of lateral movement. How much can it possibly move anyway??

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I know that for racing they used adjustable bars, going from the front leaf spring mounts to the shackle.
Also you should replaced the leaf spring bushes to Poly bush versions.

Looks like the track is similar between Mk2 and XK150, 4’3ish and 4’5ish, so you could perhaps use a Mk2 axle which will already have a panhard rod bracket on it, and perhaps modify it to take the 1\2 elliptic springs instead of the 1\4 elliptic of the Mk2. Would need a corresponding braket on the chassis, but presumably you could arrange that to utilise the Mk2 rod. Surely most racing XKs would have used a Panhard rod, so you wouldn’t be reinventing the wheel. There may be enough room to fit a Watt’s linkage, which may be more effective, if more complicated to construct.

A Panhard will be of little use to stifle tramp, and of zero use under acceleration.

With good leaves, and tight bushes, there should be little movement .

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I am not a great fan of squirrely leaf sprung drum brake vehicles with a light rear end and lots of torque, should know, have owned enough :expressionless:

My observation is they handle like shit if anything isnt perfect, old leaf springs are often sagged, so thats the first thing I would check, (by measuring), good bushes, and especially shock absorbers

My old GMC put out more torque as an XK, but with up to 150:1 final reduction, in low 1st the huge torque would tramp the rear bogie duals and the enormous spring would flex like jelly, despite large panhard rods

My observation in that case that modifications similar to what is done to monster trucks would be the only way to overcome it, especially better (and more) shock absorbers (it had old style lever shocks, and designed to be loaded with weight in the rear)

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MG Midgets Mk1, AH and MK 1/2Jags with quater elliptics benefit greatly from a Panhard rod, because of the self-steering ability of those axles, not very nice in bumpy highways -rather than tight cornering, to my tastes.

I would not fit it to a road or even fast road XK: the leaf springs are set for under-steer, i would not like to touxh that on a standard car.

Hi Tony,
The XK150 is disk brakes all around.
And the weight distribution on the XK150 is even 50/50 ( have measured it myself with one driver )

Panhard rod will offer no improvement for axle tramp under acceleration, that is caused by oscillating leaf spring wind up followed by sudden release. To stop the front half of the leaf spring from winding up you need to either stiffen it significantly or add an upper track rod (tension) or a lower track rod (compression) to transfer that force into the frame.

Example of a lower compression rod.

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I think there’s an echo in here… :slight_smile:

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