Independent suspension?

Captain,
This is off subject but I was wondering about your snorkel, looks to be the airtech / nissan design. I am looking at putting one on the GU, have been priced $240 by Nissan and up to $380 for an airtech. They look the same and I believe are made by airtech. Which do you have and do you find it O.K. Would you fit same again next time? Any thoughts appreciated
Rolande

Captian, theres no doubt IFS has problems to do with travel but I don't get your point regarding center ground clearance. Center ground clearance on my LC100 IFS is far better than a live axle because the axles do not come out from the diff horizontally rather they come at a slight angle down from the diff. Diff is higher off the ground (Even without a lift)

Neither do I think your maths is right above. If body drop 75mm on one side then center will only have dropped about half that (say 37.5mm) in your example a live axle would have dropped 25mm in the center a difference of 12.5mm. There would be an argument that the weight transfer you talk about would also slightly raise the opposite side of the vehicle raising the center. Net difference would be negligable.

The other disadvantage with IFS is that the "arms" that hold all the IFS gear at each wheel significantly lower ground clearance at the wheel causing problems in deep ruts.

Gaz

Hi GaryW,

I didn't explain myself very well so I will try again (would be a dam sight easier if I could do a diagram!). Imagine you could lift both wheels up on your vehicle at the same time. On a live axle, the diff moves up with the wheels. On an IFS, the diff is fixed and only the wheels move up. So, in relation to the ground, the IFS diff is now closer to the ground.

Lets assume bothe IFS and live axle vehicle have 200mm ground clearance under the diff. The Live axle is always fixed at 200mm, but the IFS only has a MAXIMUM of 200mm and gets progressively worse as the wheels compress into the guards. I hope this makes sense because it is a real issue with IFS vehicle.

And Rolande, I believe the airtech and the Nissan are the same, but their is nothing in the box to indicate its an airtech (I looked). I paid $265 (thought I got a good deal) and fitted it myself (if fitting yourself, need an air ratchet due to the Nissan inner snorkel behind the guard). The Nissan one comes complete with all parts, including rust preventative, template S/S screws etc, and is of a very high quality.

The only problem with the Nissan snorkel is that donaldson pre filters need a special adaptor (never seen one commercially) as the Nissan snorkel is not vertical where the ram clips on. But the Nissan one looks HEAPS better than the Safari IMHO (and prefer the Nissan badge than the air tech). I have also previously fitted a safari snorkel to my 80 series and that kit was of the same very high quality.

Cheers

Captain

Hmmm. I think you are right that trying to explain without diagrams is difficult.

Gaz

I see what your saying Captain, but all three of my IFS 4bies have the Diff so high up that you would have to take your sump out before you took the diif out, and they are normally covered up by a heavy duty bash plate. Your live axel Diff does not have a bash plate over it and I dare say it would hang down a lot lower.
So from what your saying a worst case scenario for me with IFS is I will bottom out and scrape my bash plate... Who cares, that's what it's there for, smashed my Feroza plate so many times I lost count, never stopped me going anywhere, never damaged anything (other than the plate).

Captain,
Thanks for the info, will go with the Nissan unit.
Rolande

Yeah spot on Moose, better ride, safer handling and better protection for the Diff just to name a couple.