Straight Axle Vs. TTB

[The Lone Ranger]

I have a few friends with straight axle rigs (85 toyota, 82 toyota & 72 blazer) all of the rigs do pretty dang well off road. I have a stock 94 Ranger and havent done much with it offroad but for the little i do...its done just fine.

So my questions is...for rough trails, snow, mud and a daily driver, is it worth getting a rig with a solid front end? Will it be a more reliable set-up?

Thank you!


Around these parts, toyotas are by far the most plentiful and they rag on me all the time about havin a wishbone front end, most of em have IFS and im not too sure what to say back at them? haha is the IFS really any better?

Thanks again!

 

[RebelAssaultTruk]

in my opinion it all depends on how dedicated you are to your wheelin, and what kinda wheelin you do. for the trail riding i like, a solid axle was the only way...i had ttb lifted up and it just wasnt cutting it...the ttb's fixed camber gets bad when you lift it and throw it on big tires too. i duno bout anyone else, but solid axle has worked better for me

 

[mhughes165]

the toyota IFS front ends are really laughable at best, while i have had trucks with them that wheeled well enough, i simply prefer the way that the ranger TTB works, i can make a ranger go magical places with a ttb dana 35 in the front, and it can take anything that the IFS toyota can take and most likely then some

 

[4x4junkie]

The TTB D35 essentially is a solid axle that's built into two sections. Most parts are either shared with, or are similar in construction to the Dana44 axles used under the F-150 or fullsize Bronco.
The only thing really against it is that most of the suspension kits sold for it still date back to the '80s. You'll have to do a bit of messing with springs and such to bring it up to today's standards for flex and handling.

Take a look through this thread, lots of good info about it here:
http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29

 

[The Lone Ranger]

So...when lifted, do the brackets put excessive stress on the axle?

 

[mentalbreakdown00]

I put's more stress on the engine cross member.

 

[Will]

On the engine crossmember? No. In the axle beams? No. On the pivot brackets? No, because you will not be using the factory brackets. You'll be using a good set of aftermarket brackets.

Read that thread Junkie linked then decide for yourself. I don't argue about it anymore because I realize that facts are important to only a small minority of Earth-dwellers. If you want the facts, it won't take long to dig them up either in the forums or the tech library.

 

[mentalbreakdown00]

Will, so adding a longer lever to the bottom of the rnginr crossmember doesn't add some more stress to it? 99.9% of the time the brackets fail first, but it does add more stress to the crossmember.

 

[Ranger44]

If you wheel moderately and still want to keep a decent daily driver.....stick with the TTB. TTB isn't that complicated once you really look into it. Follow the rules when modding it and you'll be ok. Half A$$ it and you're gonna have problems, but half A$$ing it always leads to problems sooner or later.

There isn't much of an advantage to a solid axle unless you're doing something extreme and NEED more strength. I wouldn't waste time swapping a D44 in. I'd go straight to D60. Do you need a D60?

There isn't ANY advantage to true IFS either. Your TTB has more wheel travel than a yotas IFS.

And listen to Junkie when it comes to modifying TTB.

 

[Ranger44]

Will, so adding a longer lever to the bottom of the rnginr crossmember doesn't add some more stress to it? 99.9% of the time the brackets fail first, but it does add more stress to the crossmember.

Have you seen a skyjacker TTB bracket fail horribly?

I haven't. If designed right.........they take abuse.

and I have yet to see the engine crossmember or TTB arm fail around the bracket either.

 

[Ozwynn]

yeeeeaahhhhhhhh Junkie has like 18" of wheel travel. Joel has alot of travel and both are hardcore wheelers.

 

[Ranger#1]

ahem cough cough =]

 

[4x4junkie]

yeeeeaahhhhhhhh Junkie has like 18" of wheel travel.

I'm up to about 21" now

As for brackets and leverage, a GOOD suspension lift's brackets will be much wider than the stock brackets. This spreads out the leverage across the frame.
Even without this, cracks in RBV frames are not too overly common (you see this far more often with TTB brackets on F-150 frames).