1stDeuce
Explorer
Back on topic, I'll chime in an offer up three trucks I've owned that were all GM IFS: '98 Sonoma Highrider. Wheeled monthly and abused weekly for the 6 years I owned it. ZERO problems with the front end.
'96 GMC Sierra K2500 with a 6.5L and a 5-speed... I was reasonably nice to this truck when I bought it with 200k on the clock. I did put balljoints in it, but the ones I removed appeared to be the originals. The underside was packed with mud and gravel, all the skidplates were mashed, and it had a straight pipe exhaust and smelled like a horse blanket inside. Pretty sure it was someone's farm truck. And it had been beat. Zero front end problems, including some heavy yanking I did in reverse low that likely wasn't so smart...
'06 GMC K2500 SBCC Dmax: Bought from a grain company in ND with 110k on it. Tires were literally shredded. Gravel is still packed everywhere under the truck. Skidplates are mashed, along with the trans crossmember. It's been offroad. A lot. Front is all original still at 155k. (It came with service records!)
Oh, and my dad has now been through two K1500 Chevys, one '90 with a 5-speed and a 350, and the current '97 with a 305 and an auto. My dad is hard on EVERYTHING. He uses his truck like a 1-ton. Both trucks have worn snow plows their whole life in Northern Michigan, and he plows a lot of drives. First truck only had a Western, but we were in need of a plow for the new truck and the only one we could find a good deal on was a Boss straight blade. It was NOT meant for a 1/2 ton, and it is HEAVY. And he loves it and won't get a lighter plow. No front end problems at all with either truck, other than needing balljoints on the first one at about 150k. (He put about 200k on it before he sold it.)
I had plenty of friends in college wheeling 1st gen IFS chevys of all kinds, and I not once saw any issues with the IFS, excepting the occasional bent or broken tie rod, but even those were mostly due to hitting logs in mudholes, not weaknesses in the IFS itself.
By my observation, the "weak IFS" is completely bogus. I've see LOTS of older solid axle dodges with severely bent front axles, wheel bearing issues, balljoint issues, etc... I'll not dispute the many disadvantages of IFS in an offroad environment, but I don't think those disadvantages are "weakness".
Look at a 2500 GM truck. Cast lower arms, heavy welded or forged uppers, huge knuckles, and honestly, the front ring and pinion size is fairly huge. The tie-rods are small diameter, but they're short... Not really comparable to the 6' long 1" dia tie rods on a solid axle. I've yet to bend any, and I've been fairly rough on stuff... I'm sure satisfied with my trucks for what I use them for.
C
IFS has it's downsides, like flexability first and foremost for offroad use, but for the little bit of offroad that my truck is going to see, the IFS is exactly what I want. If I wanted to wheel a full size truck, I'd go find something with a solid axle, but I have a Jeep for wheeling.
'96 GMC Sierra K2500 with a 6.5L and a 5-speed... I was reasonably nice to this truck when I bought it with 200k on the clock. I did put balljoints in it, but the ones I removed appeared to be the originals. The underside was packed with mud and gravel, all the skidplates were mashed, and it had a straight pipe exhaust and smelled like a horse blanket inside. Pretty sure it was someone's farm truck. And it had been beat. Zero front end problems, including some heavy yanking I did in reverse low that likely wasn't so smart...
'06 GMC K2500 SBCC Dmax: Bought from a grain company in ND with 110k on it. Tires were literally shredded. Gravel is still packed everywhere under the truck. Skidplates are mashed, along with the trans crossmember. It's been offroad. A lot. Front is all original still at 155k. (It came with service records!)
Oh, and my dad has now been through two K1500 Chevys, one '90 with a 5-speed and a 350, and the current '97 with a 305 and an auto. My dad is hard on EVERYTHING. He uses his truck like a 1-ton. Both trucks have worn snow plows their whole life in Northern Michigan, and he plows a lot of drives. First truck only had a Western, but we were in need of a plow for the new truck and the only one we could find a good deal on was a Boss straight blade. It was NOT meant for a 1/2 ton, and it is HEAVY. And he loves it and won't get a lighter plow. No front end problems at all with either truck, other than needing balljoints on the first one at about 150k. (He put about 200k on it before he sold it.)
I had plenty of friends in college wheeling 1st gen IFS chevys of all kinds, and I not once saw any issues with the IFS, excepting the occasional bent or broken tie rod, but even those were mostly due to hitting logs in mudholes, not weaknesses in the IFS itself.
By my observation, the "weak IFS" is completely bogus. I've see LOTS of older solid axle dodges with severely bent front axles, wheel bearing issues, balljoint issues, etc... I'll not dispute the many disadvantages of IFS in an offroad environment, but I don't think those disadvantages are "weakness".
Look at a 2500 GM truck. Cast lower arms, heavy welded or forged uppers, huge knuckles, and honestly, the front ring and pinion size is fairly huge. The tie-rods are small diameter, but they're short... Not really comparable to the 6' long 1" dia tie rods on a solid axle. I've yet to bend any, and I've been fairly rough on stuff... I'm sure satisfied with my trucks for what I use them for.
C
IFS has it's downsides, like flexability first and foremost for offroad use, but for the little bit of offroad that my truck is going to see, the IFS is exactly what I want. If I wanted to wheel a full size truck, I'd go find something with a solid axle, but I have a Jeep for wheeling.