Just chatting - IFS lift
I'm a bit bored, work has slowed down today. So, cruising CL as usual.
Seeing as I don't want to crawl and don't have a desire to get lockers, is there a big issue with going with IFS?
Lifting I'm assuming with be new shocks and springs or strut blocks, correct?
Is strength an issue?
Or do people just tend to go with SFA because of the ability to lock?
Smack me if I'm annoying, just wanting to learn. Feel free to ignore me!
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
IFS doesn't have as much wheel travel, which is why SFA or SAS is more popular. Also, oftentimes SFA is considerably stronger, particularly on large rigs. In smaller or lighter applications, the IFS serves just fine. I run IFS and have never had a problem.
Lifting IFS can be tricky. There are kits for some vehicles and not for others. Make sure you check before you buy a vehicle that there is a kit or way to lift if you want to do so. Kits consist of blocks, springs, etc. It can also be a torsion crank. Bigger lifts replace all the mounts in the front and come as a full kit.
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
I was thinking reliability and strength were the reasons to go with SFA/SAS, hadn't thought about articulation (maybe cause I had great articulation with the lifted Forester sans sway bars). Thanks!
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
Another reason to SAS is replacement parts for a Dana axle or something similar is far easier to come by than some of our IFS parts.
Oh and you can get different gears for your diffs in a Dana sooooo much cheaper than if I wanted to get something for my Nissan axle.
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
You can do some amazing things with independent suspension (ind). However, replacement parts are a pain because the high-end setups use custom halfshafts, knuckles and other stuff.
With a suby, you'd probably need to go fully custom for a long-travel ind lift. That could cost a fortune.
Do you have 4-lo?
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
Oh dear no, not at all considering lifting the Subi, again. I just took the 2inch strut lift off this weekend, it's up for sale on ebay.
Was just looking at how many newer decent mileage Suburbans are in my price range. Looking to see if an IFS would suit my needs or if I need to stick to the SAS. Would be nice of course to have a newer one with more luxuries. But, not necessary if the IFS is really gonna screw me!
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
An IFS rig can do quite a lot. Mine is still IFS, and probably always will be. If I want anything more, I'll build up something a lot older and cheaper.
Also you can get some decent suspension lifts for IFS Yota trucks, but the trucks may be out of your price range for a rig.
It really depends on what you want to do. I'm not hard on my rig - I don't try to slam over obstacles with power, don't do anything too crazy, etc. But I can still do most trails. I just bypass some things here and there and don't do the really hard rock crawling ones. Again down the road someday I will have a rig that can do them, but don't plan on that rig being the Xterra.
Anyway, here's a lift kit for Yotas:
http://www.superlift.com/suspension/.../86-PICKUP.asp
If you can find an older one, it may fit your budget.
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
Yeah I kinda wonder if maybe an IFS could work for my application. But, I'm afraid I don't know enough. Will keep reading and googling.
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
What do you want to do? If trails in the 5-7 rating range are fine for you, then an IFS rig with a lift and larger tires will do fine - mine does. Some spots I need some spotting and maybe a tug here and there, but it does great. If you want to do something like Holy Cross someday, then an IFS rig is probably not for you.
The important thing to realize is that things will break - to read up on the weaknesses of a particular rig and how to fix or work around them, and carry spare parts. Even with a solid axle rig, stuff will break at some point or you just aren't having enough fun lol. Like my Xterra - the stock steering is weak. So I have an upgraded centerlink and an idler arm brace and haven't had a problem.
I carry spare parts for the common failure points - tie rod assemblies, CV axles, ball joints, etc.
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
Thanks Andrew. Yes, 5-7 is all I want to do. Heck, I'm actually happy with 5-6. No Holy Cross or anything like that.
IFS or SAS I'm thinking 2-4" lift with 33s or 35s.
I'm gonna do some searching, see if I can find a suburban forum. Might be the best place to get some more info on the weak points of the newer ones.
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
Andrew and Jeff pretty much summed it up with the IFS vs SAS.
IFS is great and will do a lot, plus you have a good street ride. You can only lift an IFS so far before stuff starts getting very expensive, mainly for strength. As Andrew said, the IFS stuff breaks, mainly because there is more stuff and the axles are quite a bit smaller than straight axle. They are not hard to change out, and there are usually more IFS parts in junkyards than straight axle stuff, so spare junk is easy to acquire. People have run very hard stuff with IFS and, to me, requires that the driver think a bit more about wheel placement.
Save the straight axle stuff for when you want to run the hardest trails. You can probably run 85% of the trails in the state with an IFS rig just fine.
Most of the weak links in the IFS system have been addressed with not too expensive parts. Andrew mentioned the idler arm brace, which is also a weak part on the FJ Cruisers and IFS Yotas. You can lift and run an IFS wi, plus reinforce it, without braking the bank. You will just be limited to how high you can feasibly lift it and, like I said, drive it more carefully than a straight axle rig.
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
My IFS rig has a 2" body lift and a 3" suspension lift (actually more about 2-2.5 as it's sagging a bit at the moment) and I run 33's on it. It does great. I can't really run 35's without a lot of trimming and regearing or putting a solid axle under it, but there are plenty of IFS rigs that you can fit 35's on - and remember that the only way to increase your clearance from your axle to the ground is with larger tires.
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
Thanks Brody, coming from you that means a ton. The street comfort is a nice bonus, as I want something we can take to different parts of the country.
Some more research into the weak points of the IFS system on the 'burb as well as how well it'll handle a 2-4" lift.
---------- Post added at 02:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:36 PM ----------
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
Pete you bring up a good point - IFS does often require more careful tire placement and thinking more about obstacles due to less articulation - but I didn't mention it because I am more of the finesse over obstacles type of driver and that's more of what I just do anyway.
As with any rig - the only way to learn it is to get it out there and wheel it.
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
I'm eager to learn more about wheel placement. I'm good at it in the Subaru, but, well, that's a CAR..... Very different from a massive Suburban, will be a completely different ball game.
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
yeah nothing wrong with ifs, just cant beat on it like a solid axle. if you do get ifs, look at better bushings and new torsion bars as when you do the poor man lift with torsionbar only it wears the bushings and bumpstops down. it aint much to get good bushings and torsion bars pre keyed for a bit of torsion lift.
(i had a nissan 2wd with 31" superswampers, it went most places!)
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
Re: Just chatting - IFS lift
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