For you who don't like the GM truck's IFS system

[travelnutz]

The GM truck's IFS (Independent Front Suspension) and those who claim it's weak and won't last long and especially when using it for snow plowing with the heavy plow on the front of the truck. In bitter cold snowy Minnesota no less!

NOTE THIS!

Copied and pasted from the AP news.

Snow buries parts of Rockies, Upper Midwest
AP Wire
Nov 11, 2014

People in the Upper Midwest and Rockies woke up to frigid temperatures Tuesday, with heavy snow blanketing some areas.
More than 2 feet of snow blanketed parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and more was on the way before the front was expected to exit Wednesday. Northern Wisconsin also got as much as 18 inches of snow, and parts of central Minnesota more than 16.

The weather wasn't enough to persuade Joe Meath to flee Minnesota, even though he won nearly $12 million in a state lottery game two months ago. Meath was busy with his small snowplow business, taking care of his customers in his Chevy truck with nearly 300,000 miles on it.

[Jarlaxle]

Fordlover wrote:

travelnutz wrote:
The GM truck's IFS (Independent Front Suspension) and those who claim it's weak and won't last long and especially when using it for snow plowing with the heavy plow on the front of the truck. In bitter cold snowy Minnesota no less!

NOTE THIS!

Copied and pasted from the AP news.

Snow buries parts of Rockies, Upper Midwest
AP Wire
Nov 11, 2014

People in the Upper Midwest and Rockies woke up to frigid temperatures Tuesday, with heavy snow blanketing some areas.
More than 2 feet of snow blanketed parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and more was on the way before the front was expected to exit Wednesday. Northern Wisconsin also got as much as 18 inches of snow, and parts of central Minnesota more than 16.

The weather wasn't enough to persuade Joe Meath to flee Minnesota, even though he won nearly $12 million in a state lottery game two months ago. Meath was busy with his small snowplow business, taking care of his customers in his Chevy truck with nearly 300,000 miles on it.

Anybody who doesn't believe GM's IFS is up to the task is foolish. How many years of GM HD's are out there? plenty. If I'm going to complain about something being flimsy on a GM it would be the interior, not the driveline or suspension.

When I wrenched, I LOVED those trucks! They kept me employed all winter! Axleshafts, ball joints, steering parts, the weird thermal axle disconnect...replaced them all! (Been a while, but I once could do ball joints on a K2500 in an hour.)

Not coincidentally, both my F-350's had kingpins and solid front axles!

[BenK]

I'm on my third set of front end links. Moog isn't as good as it used to be and
found that, that changed when they sold out and the new owner went to China...

On my second steering box and this one needs tightening.

The last 4-6 years has had the Sub become weekender just to keep the fluids flowing

Tow only occasionally. Retired to take care of both parents...and both are now gone
after +12 years. Will resume this kind of stuff soon...

Put on over 100K miles in around 5 years. Bought new. Now at +18 years
old, it is at +165K VERY HARD miles

Am anal about lube and other stuff.

Lube all zerks at each oil change, which I do myself. Ditto AFT flush. Ditto
power steering fluid. Ditto brake fluid. Ditto coolant (went to
American Green) I use synthetic lube filled with MolyB. Add MolyB to
my liquid lube. Now going over to Tungsten as MolyB is harder to find
at the cost and particulate sizing. Even have synthetic in my oil can
and that too has MolyB powder mixed in (have a $5 buck Oyster blender
from Goodwill to mix my Molyb & Tungsten powder into the lube)

You have to put this into context.

Sure the OP's usage has a good/great track record...but not in my usage

Over sized tires. Over sized alloys (10 inch wide, bead to bead) with a MINUS
3 inch offset that increases over all track to around +10.5 inches (wider than stock)

Serious off roader, but nothing like the old days with the K5 or FJ40. Lazy
and move boulders (small ones under ~24" in dia) with my power steering and
tires. Ditto for both the FJ40 and K5. They both had larger tires, but
live axle. They had a tougher life both on pavement and off. Both
did NOT have the issues I've had with the Sub's front end.

On pavement with good traction will leave tire marks just turning the steering
wheel while stopped. Same thing moving VERY slowly on pavement. Has to do with
the weight of the 8.6GVWR, Big Block, 4x4 and the 1 ton front torsion springs
(I ordered the snow plow prep package that begets those springs) Also
has to do with GREAT traction from this setup

Love driving the Sub while empty and just me....like a 'car'. That boy racer
will be with me till the day I die. Love IFS on pavement for it's
precision and reaction times

Drove all of my 4x4's HARD off road and on pavement. Just that the Sub is a
whale and can't do them as well in either.

Love the IFS on pavement, but hate it off roading.

Again, gotta take these things in context...mine just plain wore out
from my kind of usage...

[travelnutz]

Yes, and our 2004.5 Chevy D/A CC LB 4X4 truck, ordered new, only been used for RV'ing (11'4" Lance TC or 29' Carrilite 5th wheel 12,840 lbs actual scaled weight ready to leave), is nearing 160k miles and the front end/steering is still tight as if it's new. Has never been touched other than the front disc brake pads being replaced at 122k before leaving on a very long trip (still had 30%+ pad left). Truck has seen off-roading use many times when unloaded on un-improved 2 track forest trails, rutted/washouts, up and down rough steep hills and dunes, but not rock climbing as we don't have hardly any around in our region.

I too ask WHAT in the heck you have been doing to your truck, danojeno? Lack of maintenance etc?

Other than one idler arm on one 1984 6.2L diesel Chevy truck, I never had to replace any front suspension or steering parts on any of our GM trucks including all the ones I had for my long time business and several of them over the years had over 200k when sold. All were purchased new.

[oughtsix]

danojeno wrote:
I have 78k on my 06 2500 4x4. I replaced ball joints and tie rod ends last year. This year I replaced the sway bar ends, one of which snapped. The front end and and transfer case are the only areas of the truck I don't have confidence in.

Wow, my 2006 has 200k on it and the front is as tight as new. What have you been doing to your truck?

Put the aftermarket pump rub kit in the transfer case BEFORE you have problems with it! You will save a lot of money doing it preemptively!

[danojeno]

I have 78k on my 06 2500 4x4. I replaced ball joints and tie rod ends last year. This year I replaced the sway bar ends, one of which snapped. The front end and and transfer case are the only areas of the truck I don't have confidence in.

[jerem0621]

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
One thing I like about IFS is you don't have to put upwith this type of garbage.

Get rid of the Kmart tie rods in a GM and you have a nice very strong front end that can handle a lot of HP.

Here's a video of those Kmart tie rods.

The Red Light Special

Exactly! The first truck would have pulled a lot further if he would have invested in a set of tie rods instead of a stupid exhaust. I loved the yellow truck almost tagging the wall! :B LOL

Tie rods, rear driveshafts, front driveshafts..... Wow...

Glad I don't tractor pull everyday.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

FishOnOne wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
One thing I like about IFS is you don't have to put upwith this type of garbage.

Get rid of the Kmart tie rods in a GM and you have a nice very strong front end that can handle a lot of HP.

Here's a video of those Kmart tie rods.

The Red Light Special

Exactly! The first truck would have pulled a lot further if he would have invested in a set of tie rods instead of a stupid exhaust. I loved the yellow truck almost tagging the wall! :B LOL

[FishOnOne]

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
One thing I like about IFS is you don't have to put upwith this type of garbage.

Get rid of the Kmart tie rods in a GM and you have a nice very strong front end that can handle a lot of HP.

Here's a video of those Kmart tie rods.

The Red Light Special

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

One thing I like about IFS is you don't have to put upwith this type of garbage.

Get rid of the Kmart tie rods in a GM and you have a nice very strong front end that can handle a lot of HP.

[transamz9]

jus2shy wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:

bobx2 wrote:
Since most folks don't buy an HD truck to use for hard core offroading, I don't really see that as being a valid point. Most HD's are for work and pulling, and nothing will give you the ride that you get with IFS. It lasts just as long, carries the same payload and rides better than any solid axle. What's not to like? If Dodge and Ford used an IFS, everyone would say it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Hmm, go figure.

I would consider the construction sites as some hard core offroading.

Obviously, the original poster stating that "No such thing as a hardcore off-roading solid front axle vehicle" hasn't watched the last "King of Hammers" race in the ultra 4 class, IFS and SFA go head to head. 2014 KoH Champ. The winner noted that he needed a truck to make up for his weakness which were the rock crawls. Ultra 4 is an unlimited class.

Not many of us go rock crawling with our tow vehicles.

[jus2shy]

FishOnOne wrote:

bobx2 wrote:
Since most folks don't buy an HD truck to use for hard core offroading, I don't really see that as being a valid point. Most HD's are for work and pulling, and nothing will give you the ride that you get with IFS. It lasts just as long, carries the same payload and rides better than any solid axle. What's not to like? If Dodge and Ford used an IFS, everyone would say it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Hmm, go figure.

I would consider the construction sites as some hard core offroading.

Obviously, the original poster stating that "No such thing as a hardcore off-roading solid front axle vehicle" hasn't watched the last "King of Hammers" race in the ultra 4 class, IFS and SFA go head to head. 2014 KoH Champ. The winner noted that he needed a truck to make up for his weakness which were the rock crawls. Ultra 4 is an unlimited class.

[MARK_VANDERBENT]

One thing that turned me off on Fords, was having an Excursion that wandered down the road and needed all kinds of front end work. Pretty costly it was. My GM front ends have 300,000 miles, and one with 200,000 miles, and front ends are still all original.

[FishOnOne]

bobx2 wrote:
Since most folks don't buy an HD truck to use for hard core offroading, I don't really see that as being a valid point. Most HD's are for work and pulling, and nothing will give you the ride that you get with IFS. It lasts just as long, carries the same payload and rides better than any solid axle. What's not to like? If Dodge and Ford used an IFS, everyone would say it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Hmm, go figure.

I would consider the construction sites as some hard core offroading.

[MM49]

Here's a report about a Chevy owners complaint about his sagged out torrision bar suspension
Ruff Ride
The story is always the same, just waite long enough.
MM49