I have wondered about this for a while. Which is stronger/better, the Ford twin traction beam or the Chevy IFS??? I know the ttb's are weak but I always see these guys who think they are so cool driving around in a big lifted stock IFS Chevy with huge tires. But they can't be much stronger than the Ford counterpart, can they?

Anybody who knows anything about Chebbies let me know what's up with that IFS system of theirs

 

I rather have ford

Chevy IFS can tear frame easy where IFS arm mount to frame will crack it.

 

Yeah but don't the places where the ttb arms bolt on to the crossmember tend to crack when placed under too much stress? (EX. lots of lift. esp w/ ttb drop bracket?)

 

Yes but you could replace that mounts

but you can't replace GM frame you need replace all frame for 1 ifs arm mount.

 

i have ran a couple earley 90's 1/2 ton chevs with 6" lifts. they may have beefed up a bit now but my trucks would always be falling apart. mostly it was axles and c.v joints sometimes a diff would explode, all that stuff is upgradable but when i did crack my frame it was unfixable i tried everything from sectioning to fishplating. with the cost of beefing up a ttb compared to a ifs i'd go with the ttb

 

I was a GM tech for 3 years and have installed countless liftkits, the newer ones good luck messen up the frame or any front end parts, if you dont have over 100k on it. verybody that had problems that came back were the ones whe said o i dont need a hub or i dont need ball joints, and on and on, those ppl are the ones with issues and run there mouths. I agree with corblund about the older chevys they had issues. but I am a firm beliver in measure 2 or 3 times cut once, same as lifts or any project just do it right the first time its as simple as that. Im glad to get that out its all that frustration from the gm shop and all those retarted customers that swore i was wrong.

 

You were a GM tech? kind of interesting. especially how you ended up driving a ford in the end. But you're saying the newer chebby IFS systems are stronger?

 

As far as I'm concerned neither system is really worth "beefing up" I know it is a pretty generic answer but the only real fix I see is the SAS. I was mostly wondering what these things did as stock "axles" with big tires/lifts on them.
thank you very much for your input it is good info

 

are you looking to lift you truck or sumthing?

 

Isn't that how we met? I told you that you couldn't just do add-a-leafs up front to lift your truck, how you needed a TTB drop bracket, and then we started talking about an SAS?

My truck's not getting any lift except for some beefier/higher riding springs in the back until/unless a dana 60 is happily residing under the front of ol' blue.

 

my TTB compared to a similar year chebby IFS...the TTB all the way

i saw a chebby with the front end all torn appart...guy ran 33 or 35 inch tires

just looking that the parts, the ford parts are twice as big...the chebby spindles look like toothpicks next to my fords, the axle shafts were 1/3 the size and they have that retarded cv joint that is a constant repair known to chebbys...and the suspension arms and brackets they use are tiny as well, similar in size to the ones found in a crysler seabring!!!!

i have no clue what the newer ones are like though but i honestly dont care to find out...after doing the SAS and seeing the difference it made i am sold on solid...i am done with IFS crap...i never want to own another IFS system, well maybe as a DD and/or in 2wd form

 

wow ur right you have one hell of a memory, i forget stuff. i still cant find a dana 60 for under 900. but for 700 i can get a full complete 6inch lift, seems cheaper, plus i have to do all of my steering cause it about to break off, like scary loose. and i just did ball joints 3 months ago so for the most part the front end is replaced so why scrap it, ok so im board and long winded

 

Yeah I would also have to agree with everyone.

The TTB on my old blue F-250 held up to all the **** I gave it. And when I was driving the '99 Chevy I broke both the front CV axles. -_-

 

how did you break them?

 

a friend of mine had the same problem with his on 35" tires (ironicaly this truck is almost identical to the one i mentioned in my last post) ...he broke them both multiple times...he finally had to buy aftermarket "half shafts" that were over 2k a side...**** for that much you could rebuild the TTB 10 times over...or install a NEW solid axle in its place LOL..