Strength of IFS ?

Honestly the weak points are head gaskets (vortec engines), and cracked heads (tbi engines), and some suffer from both. The auto-tragic 4L60E as I call it is the bigger weak link over suspension, but as it was previously mentioned the 10 bolt Gov-bomb would wave bye bye before snapping a cv axle.

CV axle snapping happens when you lock the front axle and you have a large tire in a very tight position. Sadly there’s very few if any front lockers available for the ifs, and I believe most are available for the 3/4 ton ifs differential.

For what it’s worth, the best upgrade to the axle is the 9.5” 14 bolt which is a six lug axle. I have that in my 94 currently geared with 4.10’s and a Detroit tru trac locker. I love the tru trac because it’s perfect upgrade for every day use, and it is very quiet.

My advice at the 35" tire level. Get some life time warranty shafts from autozone. When i went playing which was several years ago. I had a excab swb z71 on 33"s and later a reg cab swb z71 on 35" tires. Both i had to very commonly swap cv shafts. They are pretty simple and after doing a few they can be done with the tire on but jacked up (the stub in the cv axle supports the hub bearing). On both truck i ran a l31 motor with the gmpp tbi/vortec intake. The 700r/4l60e tranny was also a real expensive weak spot. After years in 88-98 halfton trucks i finally stepped up to 3/4ton and 1 ton trucks with much beefier axles and transmissions. If you are hard on it your going to have issues. The 14 bolt semi floater rear is a more substantial axle then the more common 10 bolt but locker and limited slips are pricey or were back then and the spiders are weak on them.

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Having owned 3 square body straight axle trucks and now a couple IFS trucks I’d opine it’s a toss up.

The front 10B/D44 isn’t terrible but under a heavy truck even 33’s will smoke ball joints fast and the stock push pull steering blows. They are easy to work on at least and lifts are super simple. Cross over steering really helps too. I don’t know that I’d lock one under a heavy truck but I know it’s been done. For a straight wheeler beater definitely better than IFS.

The half ton IFS truck doesn’t seem as vulnerable to ball joint wear as long as the angles are reasonable. Steering at stockish angles is good. The 8.25 front diff is pretty weak and cannot be locked without risk of grenading. It’s a pain in the ass to work on due to clearance underneath and lifts are a lot of work. Stockish height as a daily beater though I’d take the IFS over the square body solid axle setup any day of the week.

There is a guy on one of the Facebook groups that I'm on (not sure if he's on here), but he's running a pretty good amount of power on a lowered 4x4. He very frequently posts videos of him launching in 4x4, and has been doing so for quite some time. I don't believe he's broken anything directly related to this, and I also think he's on stock parts.

Throughout my years of learning about these IFS systems, I always believed that they were the weakest pieces of crap about the 4x4 platform. After seeing what this guy has put his through, it really does make me have a new respect for IFS

upper_tanker said:

There is a guy on one of the Facebook groups that I'm on (not sure if he's on here), but he's running a pretty good amount of power on a lowered 4x4. He very frequently posts videos of him launching in 4x4, and has been doing so for quite some time. I don't believe he's broken anything directly related to this, and I also think he's on stock parts.

Throughout my years of learning about these IFS systems, I always believed that they were the weakest pieces of crap about the 4x4 platform. After seeing what this guy has put his through, it really does make me have a new respect for IFS

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I don't know of anyone personally that has grenaded one and I am told they are not an issue in the sand. I plan to find out though. I'm going to limit the boost on my 5.3 LS swap to around 650 whp to help prevent catastrophic failure. I'm in the process of lowering the differential 2" for proper CV shaft alignment with the 2" suspension lift which should help.

A lot of people talk **** about the IFS all the time about them needed constant maintenance/replacing parts. My cousin talks **** about me liking the IFS because he says solid axles are superior and saying how I will be replacing my front end every year since I have a plow. Haven't done anything to my IFS's, except just greasing once or twice a year and they are still going smooth, greasing/lube is key to making the front end last longer. I'd choose IFS any day because the ride is much better than a solid axle, but for a plow, I'd rather have solid axle just because the heavy plow puts a strain on the suspension. But for how many times I use it every winter, I'd still rather have IFS.

Anubis said:

I don't know of anyone personally that has grenaded one and I am told they are not an issue in the sand. I plan to find out though. I'm going to limit the boost on my 5.3 LS swap to around 650 whp to help prevent catastrophic failure. I'm in the process of lowering the differential 2" for proper CV shaft alignment with the 2" suspension lift which should help.

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I, and probably many others here, would love to see some 650hp 4x4 launches when you get it going, if you decide to do so.

98chevy2500SS said:

A lot of people talk **** about the IFS all the time about them needed constant maintenance/replacing parts. My cousin talks **** about me liking the IFS because he says solid axles are superior and saying how I will be replacing my front end every year since I have a plow. Haven't done anything to my IFS's, except just greasing once or twice a year and they are still going smooth, greasing/lube is key to making the front end last longer. I'd choose IFS any day because the ride is much better than a solid axle, but for a plow, I'd rather have solid axle just because the heavy plow puts a strain on the suspension. But for how many times I use it every winter, I'd still rather have IFS.

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My dad's fleet of plow truck gmt400s have never, EVER had a catastrophic failure, just the occasional CV shaft change. That's saying a lot, since 99% of his drivers are incompetent people that don't give a **** about anybody else's stuff. When he had a few old square body plow trucks, we'd be replacing at least one front axle at least once a month due to the ears snapping right off of the shafts. To me, the IFS can take a lot more traction-catching hell than a stock k20 front end can. Maybe it was just his trucks... no idea. LOL

upper_tanker said:

My dad's fleet of plow truck gmt400s have never, EVER had a catastrophic failure, just the occasional CV shaft change. That's saying a lot, since 99% of his drivers are incompetent people that don't give a **** about anybody else's stuff. When he had a few old square body plow trucks, we'd be replacing at least one front axle at least once a month due to the ears snapping right off of the shafts. To me, the IFS can take a lot more traction-catching hell than a stock k20 front end can. Maybe it was just his trucks... no idea. LOL

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That's good to hear that IFS can take more "traction-catching hell" than a solid axle. Maybe I can use this the next time my cousin brings it back up. Hehehe

Does your dad have a plowing business? My dad's square body didn't have that issue when he plowed, but then again, he just plowed the snow off the yard and drive way, and he doesn't drive it a whole lot, maybe once a month at best.

In my 94 swb 4x4. I had 4.10 gears. 35" good year mtrs. Stock height. L31 vortec motor with the sdpc tbi intake on it. Last time i went out playing in that truck probably around 03 or 04. We were wheeling in the candian river around Amarillo tx. I tore the cv axles pretty quickly. This was a combination of sand mud and rocks. New shafts. That truck likely was just under 300hp 400lbs tq. Never blew up a front diff. Blew up 10bolts and even the 14bolt semi floater. After that truck instepped into a solid axle diesel with alot more power. Have yet to have a problem from a dana 60 or the sterling 10.5

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98chevy2500SS said:

That's good to hear that IFS can take more "traction-catching hell" than a solid axle. Maybe I can use this the next time my cousin brings it back up. Hehehe

Does your dad have a plowing business? My dad's square body didn't have that issue when he plowed, but then again, he just plowed the snow off the yard and drive way, and he doesn't drive it a whole lot, maybe once a month at best.

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My dad does own a plowing business. He used to have all square body Chevys up until about 2005, when he started "upgrading" to the 400s. When I first got my license, I drove a frankenstein 84 k10 shortbox with a 4 speed. I had snapped a few front shafts in that, probably user error though. After about 15 hours plowing with the old mechanical clutch, I'd start to get lazy lol.

One of his old salt trucks was an 87 k20 350/400. The guy that drove that would snap at least one shaft every winter. It got to the point that finding replacement OE shafts was getting to be a pain in the ass. We thought about trying the chromoly ones, but he didn't want to spend that kind of money to "try" something.

In any case, now he has around 7 GMT400s, a 2002 f350, and a 2000 NBS Silverado. He's had this same fleet for about 5 years now, and we've NEVER had a front driveline issue other than replacing the occasional CV shaft when they start to click. The other guy that used to drive the salt truck (and snap shafts pretty frequently) drives one of the 400s, and hasn't had a front issue on that one either.

I fully expect to catch hell on my previous statement about IFS taking more abuse than a solid axle. I'm well aware that a solid axle can be built to withstand more abuse than any IFS could even dream about. This was just my experiences in our circumstances. I'm sure that the (at the time) +/- $400/shaft Moly axles would have probably solved the solid axle issues that we were having, but you'd think that the 3/4 ton stock axle would have been enough to handle the abuse. Just my opinion.