Quote:
Originally Posted by gsteichen
I watch Extreme 4X4 on Spike and they've swapped out entire front ends to go from independant sppension to a solid front axle. for rock crawling/serious trail rig's. Thier claim is that you can get much greater articulation with solid axle???
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It has more to do with expense than durability. You can get great articulation out of an independant suspension but it will cost you. If you look at the 4x4 trophy trucks they all have independant fronts and some have independant rears that can travel well over 30 inches.
However, rockcrawlers have experimented with independant suspensions but most use a solid axle. I my opinion having the solid axle helps in the rocks because as one tire goes up it forces the oposite tire down which provides more traction.
I did a solid axle swap on my Explorer. However, if I would have had the $5000 it would have cost to go the coilover route and keep the independant front I would have. Instead I did the solid axle swap myself and have about $1200 into it.