I'd love to know. I've been staring at it for quite some time now and it just refuses to fall off. Am I doing something wrong?

 

Chicken!

 

C4

 

Actually I've got time off and a buddy's garage booked for Thanksgiving week to do it. The only parts left I have to get are brake lines, shocks, and shock towers. And pretty soon here I'll be ordering my plasma cutter.

 

Well, that would be faster...

 

Yep, then the IFS would really blow...

 

...chunks... literally!

 

Go for it. I see ya'll are talking about swaps and figured I'd try to catch up in the conversation. It's alot easier than you think. I did it in my garage it was a breeze!! The hardest part was cutting the Ifs off and grinding it. A plasma cutter would be really nice, but most of that stuff unbolts and the rest I cutoff with sizwheel disks and a sawzall. It's doable without a plasma cutter or even a torch-- just for the record--although those mentioned would be better!! Once I had my Ifs cut and a smooth ground frame, I holesawed and welded the frametubes. The next day me and my buddy hung the axle, welded the shock mounts, hooked up the steering, and were driving it in 3 hrs. The hardest part is the Ifs removal and grinding. Ultimate tip of the week though!!!!!!!!!!!! Once the A-arm is taken off. Cut the welded hanger thing in half with a wheel and then use a crow-bar and hammer to literally bend-break it off at the weld. This was the most intimidating thing for me. Yet turned out to be the easiest to remove.

 

I know how easy it is and I would do it in my garage, save for one little problem. I wouldn't be able to get out afterwards, at least not without a huge dent in the top of the cab. Stupid small garage and sloped driveway, I need to move...

 

Air down the tires or do it out in the driveway. How big off springs are you gonna do, I can still barely get in a garage with an 8'' suspension and 3" body lift that's coming off soon by the way.

 

Driveway is a steep hill and I can barely get in the garage at stock height and 33s. With ~6" of lift and 35s I'm not willing to risk it even aired down. Like I said I need to move.

 

I soon will have a 30' x 30' shop with 14' door. I got tired of airing my tires down to 0lbs just to get in the garage.

 

I see I didn't know what exactly was goin on. Actually this site has been whooping me today and i thought you were that other guy posting. I guees i got lost in the quotes or something. Don't move for your truck dude. Nah do what ya got to. Man you probably got my e-mail, but I had been looking at that rear dshaft and wondering. I had never asked anyone about it but then you said it would work and it gave that second opinion to agree with my own and I was locked up in 4 wheel drive the next day. Thanks. Man check out the sas swap questions in the offroad forum. These guys are grilling me about d44's and I'm just trying to be a nice nice guy and let them know what I think or at least I think or have read.

 

I do have 25mm torsion bars.

It looks to me like that was as close to full compression as I can get. I think that has mostly to do with the rear lifting so the front has to try to compress.

I hope to be back over Christmas break with a winch and some air shocks so that we can have an identical test in the same place.

Do not use aftermarket t-bars unless you have a fat front end. I am not even sure the winch alone will do it.

I also think part of it is your perspective Steve. You are used to a front end that works and flexes well for IFS, but you had the best view of all for this.

 

Hmmm... I'm curious about the softer SAWs. I was able to soften mine up alot too - I probably have the best flex that my front end will get with the stock IFS and SAWs. How did I make them softer? Beat the pi$$ out of them for about 45K miles The flexiness is nice, but the body roll sucks. So I have a new pair of the 15" 675 lb. coils sitting here waiting to be installed. I don't have a heavy front bumper or winch, but my overall weight distribution for the front half of the truck is greater due to the aux. battery and the fridge (but I only added those recently - the relax of the coils was just due to fatigue over time). It is the trade-off issue - do you want it really stretchy for the rocks but with lots of body roll, or do you want a tight ride with less flex. For my application, because of the heaviness of my truck, I prefer the stability both on the the road and off. I wish I could have both extreme ends of the spectrum, but I think my new coils and leafs will put me somewhere in the middle (hopefully).

To get back to the topic - I would love to have the stability, strength, and flex of the SFA for the trails. It's tempting.

 

I would stick with your nice and soft SAWs and add an aftermarket swaybar, then. With QDs you'll have the best of both worlds.

 

I have the stock sway bar (which is beefy) with QD's already. Doesn't help the squishy factor. When I drop off of a rock or ledge, the coils give too much now. If I go through a ditch or over a ridge at an angle, it's ridiculous, even with the sway bar.

 

Oh, ok. It sounds like you need the damper valved stiffer then. You'll retain the articulation because the spring rate will remain the same, but you won't compress as much when you drop off. 'Course, I don't know if that's an option for SAWs.

So the best of both worlds would be to valve the shock stiffer for off road drop offs and on road stability, and addco swaybars for on road stability.

Makes me think my rancho 9000s are pretty good, hehe.

 

Yea, I am definitely no expert, but I think the valving on the shock is only good to a point, as it helps to control the rate of compression and rebound. But ultimately, it seems to me that the bigger picture boils down to weight and spring rate. If the amount of weight versus the amount of "life" left in the spring gets too out of whack, all of the shock valving in the world won't help. This is just my humble opinion. Leaf springs, coils, and torsion bars all have a limited life span if they are burdened with the task of contolling alot of weight while maintaining a comfortable ride. If you take one or the other away (alot of weight - or - comfortable ride) then the springs will probably last much longer. I have Rancho 9000's on my rear axle, and they made a huge difference, but it was only a band-aid because my leaf springs have crossed that threshold. I now run around with them on a setting of "9" and they don't add control any more. They were asked to do too much for too long.

My SAWs performed excellent for a really long time. The valving on them was perfect. And since I haven't changed the valving, I think they will continue to be perfect. I just need to replace the worn out coils because they just don't do what they are supposed to any more.

 

That makes sense now. Is 15", 675lb the same as before?