KidVermicious
New member
So, I'm daydreaming. Work with me here.
Take a solid front axle housing. Cut off the ends and move them inboard, to roughly match the width of the 7.5 diff and longside tube. Now get a pair of custom axle shafts machined to match those lengths, a custom length front driveshaft, and weld up some fittings to the housing so that it bolts up in place of the 7.5 diff. With me so far? Good.
Now, the strength of the IFS system is the fact that it's independant, leading to better high speed handling. The two biggest weaknesses are the outer CV joint and it's aversion to high angles caused by lifting. So lets take away those weaknesses. A birfield, or better yet a Longfield, can handle angles better than a CV joint, right? Lets take a pair of Longfields and set them up back to back, so one bolts up to the axle flange and the other goes through the IFS spindle, just like the factory CV joints. We'll reuse the factory spindle, nothing wrong with it. Add a solid axle hub, and bob's your uncle. Might as well extend the factory a-arms, since we're creating a custom outer shaft anyway. And ditch the damned torsion bars, lets go with a tunable coilover setup instead.
Now we've got an 8 inch axle housing that gives us the flexibility of a removable 3rd just like a solid axle, we've got solid 31-spline ends all over just like a solid axle, we've got the ability to lift to the limit the front DS will allow just like a solid axle... it's an IFS system with all the strength and almost all the flex of a pre-IFS front end.
Yes, it would cost $50,000 and your first-born child to fabricate. That's not the point. Is it mechanically feasible?
Take a solid front axle housing. Cut off the ends and move them inboard, to roughly match the width of the 7.5 diff and longside tube. Now get a pair of custom axle shafts machined to match those lengths, a custom length front driveshaft, and weld up some fittings to the housing so that it bolts up in place of the 7.5 diff. With me so far? Good.
Now, the strength of the IFS system is the fact that it's independant, leading to better high speed handling. The two biggest weaknesses are the outer CV joint and it's aversion to high angles caused by lifting. So lets take away those weaknesses. A birfield, or better yet a Longfield, can handle angles better than a CV joint, right? Lets take a pair of Longfields and set them up back to back, so one bolts up to the axle flange and the other goes through the IFS spindle, just like the factory CV joints. We'll reuse the factory spindle, nothing wrong with it. Add a solid axle hub, and bob's your uncle. Might as well extend the factory a-arms, since we're creating a custom outer shaft anyway. And ditch the damned torsion bars, lets go with a tunable coilover setup instead.
Now we've got an 8 inch axle housing that gives us the flexibility of a removable 3rd just like a solid axle, we've got solid 31-spline ends all over just like a solid axle, we've got the ability to lift to the limit the front DS will allow just like a solid axle... it's an IFS system with all the strength and almost all the flex of a pre-IFS front end.
Yes, it would cost $50,000 and your first-born child to fabricate. That's not the point. Is it mechanically feasible?
