IFS sucks?

[Joust]

Hi, I was wondering....
its seems to be well stated and accepted that IFS is not good for trails.
at least for the more extreme stuff.

But the fancy Baja racing rigs all use IFS on the front with tons of travel.

How do they achieve that?

 

[aweber]

Hi, I was wondering....
its seems to be well stated and accepted that IFS is not good for trails.
at least for the more extreme stuff.

But the fancy Baja racing rigs all use IFS on the front with tons of travel.

How do they achieve that?

Truck-Loads of Money

 

[aweber]

To expand on my reasons:

Reason 1: - Strength.

IFS has smaller Ring and Pinion and uses CV shafts. I have broken CV's on 31's and open diff's.

Only lots of money can fix this with custom bling setups...

Reason 2: - Clearance.

See attachment. When a Solid Axle moves up, the whole axle goes with it, when a IFS axle goes up, only that ARM goes up leaving the attachment point exposed.

Reason 3: - Law of Physics

When your one tire goes up with a solid axle, the force on that one tire translates into your other tire being forced down, hence more traction.

Like a See-Saw...

Reason 4 - IFS is :rainbow::flipoff:


High Speed Desert Racing is a different animal, where each individual wheel being separate and not affected by the others is a big plus, eliminating "Bump Steer"

Adrian

 

[kbrousseau]

Solid axle is the way to go for sure but there is nothing that says that you have to run solid axle up front. IFS will work fine for alot of the trails around here. A stock Toyota IFS may no flex very well but it is surpisingly strong, just ask Adrain. Hell, Terry doesn't even use his front diff most off the time.

 

[aweber]

With no sway bars you can get a whole 6" of travel

And Terry does not use his front because he has a broken CV :stir:

 

[kbrousseau]

I guess my point is that you wheeled along time before switching to a solid axle, nothing like you do now, but it got you on the trails. I have always believed that you should drive what ya got and upgrade when it breaks, just as long as you get out on the trails. That being said I wouldn't trade the solid axle in my Grand for IFS even if it is a D30.:beer::heep::beer:

 

[aweber]

as long as you get out on the trails.

Amen :beer:

Joust, for what you told me you want to do, you will be fine.....

 

[Joust]

Nice description Adrian. I especially like the stickman rig :smokin:

 

[aweber]

Hey, Wait a Minute, your truck is Solid Axle Anyway :flipoff:

 

[Root Moose]

High Speed Desert Racing is a different animal, where each individual wheel being separate and not affected by the others is a big plus, eliminating "Bump Steer"

Yep. The other thing is that the baja style stuff is no where near what OEM is like. The pivot for the suspension is typically on the other side of the truck and the movement of the two wheels is more like a scissor action. Think Ford TTB (see the Ford guys weren't on crack after all).

These systems have their own problems and in no way perform at a high speed on flat terrrain way as well as a proper SLA (short long arm) IFS suspension but for high speed "moguls" and the like it is a pretty good system given the packaging issues.

Now that I think about it - some of those systems may even be SLA setups. Either that or the old mind's eye is playing tricks.

 

[Joust]

Cool,
where I was going with this, is why don't guys mod their trucks like that Baja style suspension. I assume it'll be more expensive of course.

 

[Loco]

Cool,
where I was going with this, is why don't guys mod their trucks like that Baja style suspension. I assume it'll be more expensive of course.

That would be something. Next project full independent suspension conversion for the Sami. LOL:lmao:

 

[Root Moose]

why don't guys mod their trucks like that Baja style suspension. I assume it'll be more expensive of course.

They do - just not around here. We don't have the type of terrain here for that kind of racing. Down in the SW USA it is a lot more popular. Type "Jeepspeed" into google/youtube and you'll get all kinds of links. I'm sure there must be similar types of sites for Toyota, Ford, GM, whatever.

Is baja racing even off-roading? You can split hairs on that. It's a function of what you want to do really. If you want to race fast in the dirt up here it is rally racing that rules. Go to the forums at mco.org for some info. I'm sure there are other local sites - not my thing so not up on it.

Just to be precise/clear, baja style suspension won't last long in a crawling rock garden kind of enviro. At least, I doubt it would. Feel free to prove otherwise.