My neighbor brought over his new GMC 3500 to compare trucks with my 2017 F350. He likes the IFS for its car like ride and he says Ford should ditch the old school SFA. I listened to him for a while and then it was time to go. He pulls into the street and shows off by putting his truck in 4x4 and spinning all 4 tires and thats when it happened. BLAMO! The front IFS let go with a crack and a pop and that was the end of it. He does have slightly bigger tires on it but was still not a good showing for his GMC. I did not rub it in but I think he understands the difference between a Dana Super 60 and his IFS.

 

Well, that is really good use of any truck...I would think to get all 4 spinning, he had to really hold on the brake?
Any permanent damage?

 

There was damage. He dropped one end of a half shaft and there was an oil leak. He had it towed to the dealer.

 

Upper and lower control arms don’t belong on a 3/4 - 1 ton pickup. Just my 2 cents.

 

Did you tell him he answered his own question? You could also clue him in that a 4X4 was not designed for 4 wheel burn outs on asphalt.

 

How could he have possibly spun all 4? The GM ifs is actually pretty strong anymore, but I still hate it.

 

Rides like a car, breaks like a car.. Solid front axle for the weight capacity and strength, plus aftermarket parts are plentiful.

 

The main benefits of a solid axle are less wear points. Ball joints on independent suspension cycle frequently while ball joints on the solid axle knuckle cycle only when turning.

 

Bring back the twin traction beam

 

this has nothing to do with the manufacturer this is an idiot destroying his truck to show off nothing more.

 

Sounds like something a 16 year old kid would do. I'm a GM guy and have owned plenty of them, I can't tell a difference in ride quality with my f250 solid axle and the 7 or 8 GM trucks I've had.

 

Independent front suspensions can be plenty strong... ask anyone in the military who has driven HMMWVs and 6x6s. Ford and Ram use SFA on their heavy-duty 4x4s for two reasons - cost and customer request. It's a less expensive front end to develop/maintain, and people still want it. Ford could put a very rugged IFS under the F-450 if they wanted, but customers probably wouldn't like the price.

 

WHAAAAAT?!??!?! Something so spectacular and you didn't get any pics???? Come on....what a missed opportunity!

 

Anything can be made strong, even ifs. But GM does not build them that way. IFS has an inherent weakness that a solid axle just does not have. Thats just the way it is. If there that good then GM should put independent suspension in the rear too. Only a solid axle in the rear would work.

 

I don't think the current GM IFS is weak by any means, just more costly to maintain. Ford and RAM continue the solid axle trend because it's cheap to build, easier to align, and customers continue to want them.

You won't see independent rear suspension, because it would be far too costly to engineer/build a system to handle the weight requirements of today's HD pickups.

The military can afford 5 ton trucks with independent rear suspension, but again those probably cost $500000 each.