IFS compared to straight axle?

Peevedkitten said:
Good thread! I'm currently weighing out the pro's & cons of LT IFS vs. SAS for my build. I'm honestly not sure which way I'm going to go with it. I've been eyeballing the blazeland kit though.

Has anyone done a LT IFS with leaf conversion in the rear? (Jeff I'm not familiar with that year, does it have leafs in the rear?)
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Yes, my 4Runner has leafs in the rear.
 
All of the LT 4Runners that I've seen have leaves in the rear, it's so much simpler than pretty much rebuilding the whole 4 link.
 
This thread was so helpful. I've been wondering about this for the past few weeks. I had to replace my second CV axle a few weeks back and was curious. Though it is my second broken one it isn't from abuse on the trail. Both just wore out and started grinding, one from the boot getting ripped open and drying out. I probably could've run both longer than I did but the noise is really annoying and scares my passengers so I replaced them. I've never had one break while I was out. Thanks!

lofreqjeff said:
santanvalleydirt - I see you're in AZ also - I live in Chandler, if you ever want to check out my setup or even go wheelin with us so you can see it work in person let me know! I'm always down to get some dirt on the tires :)
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lofreqjeff[/MENTION] santanvalleydirt[/MENTION]
I'll be moving to AZ to attend GCU in a few weeks and would love to go on some runs with either of you guys if you are down. Santan what college do you go to?
 
theking11863 said:
This thread was so helpful. I've been wondering about this for the past few weeks. I had to replace my second CV axle a few weeks back and was curious. Though it is my second broken one it isn't from abuse on the trail. Both just wore out and started grinding, one from the boot getting ripped open and drying out. I probably could've run both longer than I did but the noise is really annoying and scares my passengers so I replaced them. I've never had one break while I was out. Thanks!



lofreqjeff[/MENTION] santanvalleydirt[/MENTION]
I'll be moving to AZ to attend GCU in a few weeks and would love to go on some runs with either of you guys if you are down. Santan what college do you go to?
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I'm currently going to ASU this semester :dance:
 
Awesome thread with LOTS of good info/advice here!

For me, I ran stock IFS for a few years, mostly light trail stuff back home in Hawaii. Upgraded the front end with a trailmaster 4" IFS lift and thought it was all I'd ever need! I was wrong!!!

When I moved to the mainland (yes, that's what we call it!), I was introduced to some crazy trails in SoCal and then Oregon (yeah, Brown's Camp was my spot)! The truck took a beating, and I found that no matter where I went, I was always on 3 wheels--not good if you're not locked in at least one diff!

I got a detroit locker for the rear, found that I could do even more trails, although that one wheel was always in the air! Locked the front with an ARB and got further on trails I wasn't able to do, but also found myself constantly working to keep the truck upright!

I finally did a SAS with ARB up front, and I can pretty much do any trail I want, depending on just how much body damage I wanna take on!

I think wheeling your vehicle stock and getting to know the vehicle intimately before going to the next level makes for a better wheeler! It makes you really think about the trail, what your vehicle is going to do before you actually do it, and keeps you thinking about the best line for your rig.

I'll be honest, wheeling a SAS'd rig with 2 lockers is almost too easy! In a way, I actually miss the whole 2 wheel action sometimes, as all I need to do nowadays is look where I wanna go, point the truck to it and crawl into whatever I'm pointing it at. The lockers and flex from the straight axle and lift do all the real work, I don't have to figure out the easiest, safest way to tackle an obstacle as the truck will usually walk over, around or through whatever I want it to.
 
theking11863 said:
Nice! So we'll be pretty close to each other. We should definitely go wheeling together. You can show me all the cool roads out there
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Sounds good! My step-dad got himself an 82 Cj5 that he's fixed up. We've both been looking to get a group together to go wheeling somewhere. Both our vehicles are untested and untried in a rougher environment. A few weeks ago we went dirt bike riding up at Usery park... found out very quickly that it would be much better to 4Wheel than to dirt bike ride there. Hard to drive over big rocks with 2 wheels lol :fencing:
 
santanvalleydirt said:
Sounds good! My step-dad got himself an 82 Cj5 that he's fixed up. We've both been looking to get a group together to go wheeling somewhere. Both our vehicles are untested and untried in a rougher environment. A few weeks ago we went dirt bike riding up at Usery park... found out very quickly that it would be much better to 4Wheel than to dirt bike ride there. Hard to drive over big rocks with 2 wheels lol :fencing:
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Yeah maybe. We'll see. Mines also untested on the rough stuff and I'm not sure Ī want to test it just yet. It has too many problems :/
 
theking11863 said:
Yeah maybe. We'll see. Mines also untested on the rough stuff and I'm not sure Ī want to test it just yet. It has too many problems :/
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Mine has some issues too, but it takes a beating. I went camping recently and was driving and was certain something was going to break on me but nothing happened to my amazement.
 
Good post, Chris (#27). I too ran a Trailmaster lift for several years with good success running a LockRight until the SAS. At the time there wasn't a long travel IFS option so the solid axle was an easy choice. What I can say about it now is that I cannot imagine an IFS doing what the straight axle does for what I use it for. With ARB's F&R, its pretty much point and go. The shocks limit total travel to 14 inches without the high angle joint coming off the stationary 3rd. The added ground clearance would be nice but even that isn't a real issue. The IFS was a lot more stable on the highway, but I didn't build a highway rig.
 
theking11863 said:
Maybe. My friends invited me to go down the mountain and they said we can stop at the junkyard so I'll just see if I can get one there. Might grab some bearings too just in case mine are trashed from the mud
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Awesome! I'm finally getting my brakes fixed Monday. No more shakin while brakin.
 
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