Was over at my buddy's house last night replacing the rotors on his 1981 4X4 Toyota pickup and we got to talking about solid front axles. Why is this a better arrangement? I'm no motorhead, but he is, and he really didn't know. There seems to be a line of thought that makes a 1985 4X4 pickup best because it still has the solid front axle, but also the fuel injected engine. What makes a solid axle better to have?

Thanks.

some people feel its better off-road because you can get a lot more articulation with a solid axle than you can with IFS. but there are trade-offs. handling is much worse with a solid axle. unless you're doing extreme rock crawling, a properly set-up IFS will get you where you need to go, and most likely more comfortably as well. if the solid axle was better in most situations, toyota would still be using it.

Solid Axle is simpler and therefore easier to lift and fit larger tires to. They can be stronger than IFS, but that is not always the case.

IFS handles/steers better particularly at high speed (on and off road).

Solid Axles have specifc uses there simpler designs afford less components to break, they also can be immensely strong. People driven to change IFS to a Solid Axle most times are sick of finding components of IFS to break, CV's, UCA, LCA, Steering. But that is mainly like stated for Rock Crawling where low and slow max flex is used (and where IFS will break a lot!). Blasting down a washboard, or doing whoops will be miserable if you had a solid front which is why Long Travel IFS rules that world.

In the end each specific design has it's ups & downs, as well as marketability to sell the product to a large public base that will probably never take the truck off the pavement. The latter which drives most of the design, making comfort and on-road handling more important that anything else. You can count the number of trucks built now for off-roading with a solid front with one hand with fingers to spare.

I agree with whats everyone here is saying. the easiest way to put this is that solid front axles are very strong and are sometimes cheaper to make. IFS handles better on the road.

An advantage of wheeling with a solid axle is leverage. When one side of the axle is forced up, the other is forced down. IFS/IRS relys on the tire drooping under it's own weight...

I have driven solid axled vehicles my whole life...this 4R is my first IFS....I dont really feel a difference in they way any of them handle on the road.

with solid front and rear axles, you will never need an alignment any more.

Ummm....wrong. Solid axles still need to be aligned. There are a few alignment parameters that are fixed on some model solid axles....

Thanks. I think that sums it up pretty well. I think my arrangement with my IFS in my 1990 is right for the way I use my truck - mainly on road.

Again, thanks, everyone.

Yup. I think that IFS/solid axle combination is a good compromise for 98% of folks out there.

You can break all that stuff on a Solid Axle too.

But the SA has heavy duty aftermarket replacements that aren't available for IFS.