I heard a warning from a retired Toyota mechanic today that Solid Axles require "high manitenance". This is the first I have heard this and I am wondering if this is true. If so what maintenance? The mechanic who told me this didnt have time to go into it.
I can imagine it is any more of a PITA to maintain than the IFS I just got done with.
I am about a month out from doing the swap on my 94 and I am curious if what he said is true.
Thanks

 

I would think it'd be the opposite. That IFS requires more manitenance. But I couldn't say for sure.

 

Dual lockers are maintenance free. Why are you doing SAS?

 

To pick up chicks.. Duh

 

so maybe thats what im doing wrong.. i need sas. hahah jk. i have never heard that its high maintence. id have to agree that ifs is mor emaintence. but i aint sure

 

no difference that i know of.

 

I would say that they both require similar maintenance.

Both need the wheel bearings repacked periodically, both need diff fluid changed periodically, both need brakes checked and replaced....etc...

Solid axles are harder to work on, but maintenance wise, they require about the same.

If you wheel hard, you will be replacing or fixing stuff more on an IFS truck than on a SA truck, but not much.

 

Fixed Caster and Camber with adjustable toe... so your alignment now just got simpler...

More moving parts to wear out with IFS.. but really... what maintnence is there to speak of? Other than whats been said, bearings, lube etc....

I only see benefits to a solid axle. Strength, room to work, you can now drop the oil pan without removing anything out of its way (Even on a stock toyota solid front, like 85 and older). Looks better imo to =p for the da chicks

 

i can honestly say that i spent more time and money fixing my ifs than after doing a sas

 

Ah..

I see we need to make some differentiation between terms here.

I see MAINTENANCE as routine stuff, like repacking bearings, fixing seals, changing diff fluid.

FIXING something that you broke wheeling is TOTALLY different. A properly built SA truck will need almost ZERO fixing, even after hard wheeling. It WILL however, need routine maintenance.

Hard wheeling IFS will result in repairs. It will need the same maintenance as a solid axle.

 

^2.....

 

LOL WUT!?!?!?!

How in the world is an ifs truck easier to work on than a solid axle?

 

Not really sure how to answer that, other than to say, it's a pretty straight forward statement.

Changing an axle, and removing a diff are two examples, both MUCH easier on an IFS truck.

 

I have never worked on a solid axel truck, so maybe there is something I am not seeing, but pulling a diff on an ifs trcuk is far more difficult on the front than on the rear (well maybe I should say putting it back is far more difficult), and a rear it seems would be similar to a solid front sicne3 the rear is in fact a solid axel. I have done it twice now, so i can almost do it in my sleep, but it sucks all the same.

 

Pulling a solid axle diff (almost the same as changing an axle, with the obvious difference of the diff removal)

Jack up the truck. Remove the front tires. remove calipers, remove the locking hubs, remove snap rings, remove bearing nuts, remove hub/rotor assembly, remove spindle, remove birf, slide inner axles out of the diff, remove driveshaft, remove diff.

IFS diff removal.

Unbolt 12 CV/Diff bolts, remove. unbolt driveshaft. Unbolt front xmember, and xmember to diff bolt. Remove xmember. Unbolt 2 large diff bolts, with a jack under the diff. Remove the diff.

With air tools, I can remove my front diff in under 15 minutes, with the wheels on the truck.

CV axle change: Unbolt locking hub assy, or drive flange. Remove 10 mm stub axle bolt. Remove snap ring. Remove 6 cv/diff bolts. Remove axle. Put in new axle. Replace new axle, replace 6 diff/cv bolts, replace snap ring, replace 10mm stub axle bolt, replace hub.

I can do this with air tools in about 15-20 minutes, depending on how tough getting the old axle out, new in (this depends on the angle the truck is sitting on) If its on flat ground, 15 minutes. I don't have to remove my tire, or jack up the truck.

As for replacing a blown birf: same as the diff removal above, except you only have to do the busted side, and you don't have to remove the inner axle or diff. Still have to set up everything, including bearing preload, on the trail.

 

this shows my yota inexperience. Pulling the axle on my 60 is a cake walk. remove tire, caliper, hub, rotor spingle and slide axle out.

 

Looks like we posted at the same time, but no. You only have to remove the locking hub or drive flange, a snap ring, and the bolts holding the CV to the diff.

I don't know Dana axles at all, so I will amend my previous statement to only include toyota stuff.

Abov

 

we sure did. i edited my post to reflect my complete lack of knowledge on the yota topic.

 

I can say that when Molly's rig was running, we spent more time on maintenance on her SFA than we did on my IFS. Could have been timing, but the greasing, way more bolts to keep tight on a SFA...

As Isaac said, maintenance/repairs on a SFA are much more time consuming than IFS.

 

maybe she wheels harder than you... jk