olharleyman

After reading more and more posts about beefing up i.f.s. i am more confused as to what would be better for a d/d weekend warrior set up so please help with your opinons and experences as to what would be better for the long run and money.I will have to admit sas looks very cool and way more usible offroad but how does it work on road as a daily driver?

STOCK
BEEFED UP I.F.S.
SAS
OTHER

Ric

do you "NEED" a solid axle ?

tc

"Beefing up" the IFS is kinda painting a turd purple. (Note: that long travel is not "beefed up" IFS IMHO)

Say away from the extreme angles and too big tires and stock will hold up OK until you decide what you really NEED for the way you use your truck. Also, lockers will HELP by minimizing the shock load of a rapidly spinning tire grabbing traction and allowing you to crawl obstacles instead of skinny pedaling it.

You've already sunk a ton of money into a big lift - will be a shame to cut it all off to do a SAS, but at least the rear setup should be close I guess.

I agree with Ric's ?? above, but add that if you have to ask, you don't need a SAS.

ChickenLover

Have you had problems with your current set-up?

fork

my opinion is wheel the IFS off, then SAS.. or just SAS and save time, if you got the money.

olharleyman

Do I need a sas not really

no real problems yet

just dont want to spend a ass load of money beefing up what i have now and find out that i should have gone one way or the or the down the road and end up spending more by not doing it right the first time.

Red3.slow

I voted SAS by accident I think for now stock IFS will be fine for you. It has been for me. From the sounds you might want to look in to some sway away quick disconnects.

drew303

ifs sucks. Stock ifs sucks even more.

TOYZILLA

I Really Like IFS. But I Drive More On Road Than Off. It Drives Smooth & I Like How It Handles Street Driveing(Work Rig).The Times It Is Off-Road I Keep Up With My Buddies With SAS Without Probs. I Guess It Comes Down To If The "Driver Knows How To 4Wheel IFS Without Takeing It Beyond It's Limits". Now If My 4Runner Was Used For More Off-Road I Prob Would Go SAS.

ovrrdrive

The general mentality of this forum is go either stock and forget modding the truck or go complete modified SAS with long travel everything and no expense spared.

In the real world IFS works fine and if you're prepared to break stuff once in a while can be wheeled pretty hard.

Sometimes the paradox around here is frustrating... But then you have to consider the source, this is after all the Internet. 50% of the people that will vote SAS have never had one, and never will have one done to their trucks.

There are many compromises that are perfectly acceptable.


Not only that, but you can get a suspension kit like a rough country for $600, use it for a while until you're ready to do an SAS, and sell just the front of the kit for $300-400 and keep the rear. It's worth it to me to have the truck sit and look the way I want it to for a few years for the couple hundred bucks I would lose in the sale.

Just giving out other options...

20005spd

i would use your ifs till your skills have out grown it. ifs is very capable. get the rear flexing nice if it isnt already which will help to make up for lack of front flex. then just wheel the hell out of it till you need solid axle.

its currently what i am doing lol. that and sas on a 3rd gen runner is just a lil more than i wanna get into for now lol

fillsrunner4

Maybe start building up for your SAS, Get axles built and ready and slowly start building up parts (leafs or springs, steering, ect)till you are ready to SAS it. If your Even thinking about a SAS in the future I wouldnt spend any more time or money on the IFS. I lost 1500 bucks fixing my broken IFS that was cut out a month later I would beat the hell out of the IFS you have, and once its toast which will happen if you offroad it alot and then SAS it.

Road handling is alright. Not the best but thats what you get for the offroad ability. Plus it looks a million times better than IFS lifts. Be prepaired for sway and I mean sway(easy fixes). Just drive slow and let ing begin

Alperovich

personally this is my 2nd truck with ifs i love it. it feels great on the road, can handle off road, if u are not hardcore, and even then it will keep up, you can spend the extra cash for other stuff, we have a cherokee that never sees the off road, and its solid all around, i hate how the front feels on the road. really i guess its all about what you would like, and what your needs are. If u wanna do what i've been trying with IFS and its not happening then start working on SAS

slosurfer

From what I gather, it doesn't seem that you "need" to SAS. You already have a nice lift. If you want to increase your capability some, add bj spacers and uncrank your tbars so that you are back to where you sit now. By doing this, you give yourself another 1.5" of wheel travel. I would be willing to bet that your shocks you have now would handle the extra 1.5".

Some might call it polishing a turd, but considering that it is a little over $100, why wouldn't you. I think it's funny that the same people saying not to polish the turd, will tell you to throw a diamond on it instead. By diamond I mean a $800+ selectable locker setup. I agree that if you have the $$$ get the locker, especially if you think you are not going to SAS.

I for one will probably not lock my front end because I plan on a future SAS. I plan on building and locking the rear and spend the money for a front locker towards building a solid axle. While that is happening I am going to wheel the piss out of my IFS. I bought a geared front diff to throw in the front when I lock and gear the rear. That should hold me over till I build a front axle.

AxleIke

okay, a couple of things to clear up. When people say "throw a diamond" at it, they are not talking about a locker, a selectable locker, an axle, but rather an axle housing. The axle housing is 800+, in fact it is 900.

That doesn't include cromo inners and outers, a third member, gears or a locker of any kind, just a housing. A diamond is for the big boys and girls. You gotta have a lot of cash to play at that level.

The people who advocate leaving your IFS alone do so for one reason only. They figure that, if you wheel, you will eventually break your IFS enough that you will want to SAS it. If you don't wheel much, then yeah, put whatever you want into it, but you don't actually need to "beef" it. It is plenty strong for what you are doing.

If you wheel hard, don't bother.

This is where another clear up needs to be made. It isn't a matter of "breaking every now and then". That happens to any truck anywhere. When wheeling hard enough to wish you had a SAS, we are talking breaking EVERY SINGLE TRIP OUT. It happens. That is why it is argued that SAS will rock crawl better than IFS. Sure, you can take IFS on rock crawling trails, and people can argue the flex issue all day. THe number one reason a SAS that has been done correctly (stronger than stock, doesn't have to be selectable or a different housing, but has something like cromo axles) is better on the rock trails than IFS is becasue it is stronger.

fillsrunner4

True you can and will still break things with a SAS for sure, just like IFS. Its combanation of things that will make or break you rig. Good driving, knowlege and skills of your build, and time. You will break many random things both SA and IFS. You could have a lifted SA yota that was porly build and a stock IFS, and the IFS may domanate that SA yota. Do it right and take your time. Study your build and the goals of your truck and make your decision based off your own judgment. If you are 100% confident in your build it will more than likely last many times longer than if you rush just to make it big and what you think is good enough.

norcalsvx

i love my IFS but i dont do to much rocks, mostly higer speed stuff but i wheel 1-2 times a week and beat it pretty hard

slosurfer

I was using the word "diamond" as a reference, not talking about the actual company that makes custom housings. People will say not to polish a turd and keep the IFS stock, because it will break parts if you mess with it. Then they turn around and tell you to throw in a $800+ locker. Hence what I call throwing a diamond on a turd. The reason I say that, is because you are still going to be breaking IFS parts with a locker and stock parts. I just wanted to make that clear. Many of these threads make it seem that if you just have the locker you won't break steering parts.

Here is an example from an earlier post in this thread:
"Beefing up" the IFS is kinda painting a turd purple. (Note: that long travel is not "beefed up" IFS IMHO)

Say away from the extreme angles and too big tires and stock will hold up OK until you decide what you really NEED for the way you use your truck. Also, lockers will HELP by minimizing the shock load of a rapidly spinning tire grabbing traction and allowing you to crawl obstacles instead of skinny pedaling it.

Nothing is ever said that about the fact that you are still going to break steering parts when you are crawling rocks. Makes it seem that the locker is a safe bet for not breaking parts. That is what my original point was. I wasn't even thinking that the word "diamond" could be mistaken for the awesome axle housings. I will have to find a different word than diamond.

Yotaboy

I said stock IFS because my 88 Runner has the stock suspension except the Downey torsion bars to help soak up the bumps. I put a 2 inch body lift, 4.88s, 33s, and a Lock Rite in the rear. Ive never come upon anything that my buddys Rubicon could do better than me. Ive driven all the Camp Jeep trails in VA and out drove most of the Jeeps there and alot of them trailer their Jeeps. I drive mine every where from grocery getting to the trails. If its an everyday truck I would leave the IFS alone.

Smiling_Jim

An 89 Hard Corps SAS'ed Flat Bed, and an 04 lifted Taco with armor and locker.

The Taco is much more versatile than the flat bed. The Taco can run 95% of the runs the Flat Bed can do. The Flat Bed has the ultimate cool factor, and turns heads everywhere it goes. Only wheelers who really know their stuff notice the Taco, it looks stock a glance. The Taco can and has run level 4 runs. The Flat Bed can and has run level 4+ & 5 runs. How many 4+ 5 runs are out there? Most have bypasses, so the IFS will still get you thru the trail.

Bottom line on IFS is, it works excellent, but you can't go too big on tires. My Taco has 31's, my Flat Bed has 36's.

The trick on the IFS: Stay with a smaller tire and spend you money on lockers and armor. My Taco is armored to the max.

I love both my trucks. I recommend; keep your IFS.