I have one of each, IFS and SA. There is no doubt in my mind which one rides better on the street and for average every day use. The IFS 4Runner.

The SA truck is great if you meet a girl that is well endowed, you can see alot of action on the street if you give her a ride. No bra on earth is a match for a SA truck.

 

Scott, and IFS does actually have more diff clearance in a flat terrain situation, but as soon as a wheel compresses, that advantage is lost. When both side compress, the IFS will lose a lot of clearance..

 

But you're also comparing a 14 year old truck to a 4 year old truck. My friends 2001 grand cherokee rides pretty well compared to my 10 year old 4runner.

 

As far as the ride goes, I like the ride AFTER the SAS better. Except for the fact that I almost fall over everytime I turn a sharp corner. Kinda freaks people out who watch me! LOL

 

i think it's all in the suspension how a truck rides. if i compared my old 2wd toyota(t-bars) to my mom's grand cherokee(solid axle) i'd say the cherokee rides much more nicely. my solid axle toyota rides about the same as my old 2wd, except when you don't take speedbumps at an angle like you should and hit the ceiling

i also like solid axle better because it's easier for me to service, and cheaper to lift. when i compared, i saw a 4" IFS lift costing in upwards of nearly $1000, while the same for a solid axle truck was more around $300

 

oh, and i don't think ALL ifs is a bad thing. i liked ford's TTB much better than the a-arms that everyone(and ford now too) uses. with coils, you could get ttb to flex quite well, and there were strong versions of it(dana 44) that were pretty hard to break

 

I don't like IFS either I'm thinking later on to do a SAS on 44"

 

Dale, your freakin' me out man! What does flat terrain have to do with anything???

 

HAHAHA, that's kinda the point. If you and I were to measure the ground clearance between the bottom of your skid plat and the bottom of my front diff, you'd probably have more clearance even though my tires are 2" larger. However, when wheeling, that advantage is quickly lost as it's not on flat ground. Way up on the top of this thread somewhere was a comment about the advantage of the IFS being ground clearance. So I was debating the ground clearance issue.

In fact, if you were climbing a hill, your ground clearance between the front two tires would increase in comparison to mine, as both wheels are extending at the same time, moving the bottom of the frame higher off the ground.

 

Here is a pic, courtesy of Mark from AZ, expert photographer and spotter, of a time where you can see the utter lack of IFS flex in a 2nd gen truck that happens to be mine.



A solid axle rig keeps the rear tire down and levels out the body. I still did the obstacle, but a solid axle would have done it with all 4 tires.

 

Yepper! I agree, but it also makes the need for a better driver, or at least I like to think so!

Chris

 

If you had stock t-bars it would have been a million times better.

 

Nah, doubt it. He looks like he fully compressed on the right and the left is fully extended. T-bars would make no difference in this situation UNLESS the front right was unable to fully compress because the T-bars were too stiff to allow it to happen.

The T-bars will make the ride stiffer but won't change articulation UNLESS you can't achieve full compression.

 

That's me standing on the top spoting him, he has the 25mm bars and the truck basically has zero articulation.

 

I was wondering who that dorky looking guy was!

Chris

 

The T-bars will affect his RATE of articlation, but not the Range of articulation. Again, unless the are so strong and so cranked that he doesn't hit the bump stops. I can't see that happening.

Are you telling me that his right front in that picture isn't fully compressed and that the left front isn't fully extended? By this I mean bump stop to bump stop.

I wasn't there so I can't say for sure. But if he's T-bars were too tight, then he would have been forced into whatever hole was on the left, resulting in the right front being extended and the left front fully compressed.

At least that's the way it looks to me.

Articulation is not controlled by springs, or spring rates really. It's controlled by the length of the shocks, bump stops and to some extent the bushings... From a guy that uses Orbit Eye springs!

The T-bars control ride height and rate of compression, not total compression.

 

Lets change that to soo stiff and cranked they barley mover at all. I don't think he could hit the bump stops if he wanted to.

 

If that's the case, then I see you're point. Of course, I don't see the point of cranking them that stiff and then actually trying to wheel it!

He must have a well endowed girl riding with him

 

The 25mm bars, if cranked at all, will not allow the suspension to fully compress while sitting still unless you have a ½ton bumper. They barely allow it when set at stock height. They're great if you're speeding over whoops, but they suck for slow-speed stuff.


I had them in my truck...


They are no longer in my truck...





That damned IFS however is still under my truck.

 

Why in the world is that IFS still under your truck??