2021 Ford Bronco

FishOnOne wrote:

ShinerBock wrote:

ShinerBock wrote:


Not all of those had front lockers. The only one of those that had a front locker with IFS was the FJ and they were known for busting axle shafts which even the FJ guys will tell you (LINK).

In the kind of rock crawling off roading I do, you see broken IFS front end parts all over the trails especially ones with front lockers. These parts(which are much smaller and weaker than SFA) will wear a lot quicker and are not as reliable off road as the solid axles. The problem gets worse when you start adding larger and heavier tires. I can't tell you how many times our group has had to go around an obstacle because an IFS with lockers grenaded trying to go up.

Then there is the fact of less traction on technical obstacles. IFS's will generally have one tire off the ground to where a solid axle will have both on the ground aiding traction. This is also one of the reason why they grenade. Since only one wheel has traction, the driver has to apply more throttle and starts to hop because the components are in a bind. This hopping and acceleration is not good for axle shafts since only one tire has all the weight and traction on the front end. IFS's without lockers do not tend to grenade as often, but cannot go up the really technical obstacles that lockers can.


Not saying it can't do it, it is just not ideal and is better suited for fast off roading where IFS shines over solid axles.

And it looks like what I stated here has begun......

2021 Bronco snaps both tie rods valiantly on extreme obstacle

The axle shafts looked good to me... And having lockers means its less critical that all four tires are on the ground in order to gain the necessary traction.

What I stated the Bronco will more than enough perform as a daily driver and perform the vast majority of the offroad duties. If extreme rock crawling is your thing I'm sure the aftermarket will have the parts just like they do for the Jeep.

Notice I said "you see broken IFS front end parts all over the trails", not just axle shafts. Even multiple Bronco owners in that thread stated that the solid axle of the Wrangler is better in that situation just like post #14 did. Don't need any aftermarket mods to make my dana 44 front/rear axles or linkage components stronger and it would definitely handle that kind of rock crawling with stock components without braking. As I said, rock crawling is IFS's weak link and should be left to the solid axle vehicles unless you want to see your front end parts all over the trail.