Plus Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 I want to do what ever i can to make my IFS stronger and so there is less wear on everything down there. I have the OME lift so everything down there is at more of an angle. What is everyone's thought? and what have people done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 On the R50, the IFS is actually pretty strong. As it stands, there isn't a whole bunch you can do. Just make sure you get some skids on there to protect everything, mostly the rack. Pezzy, for instance, has wheeled her R50 pretty hard for a few years, and I've only just this year had to replace an outer tie rod end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plus Posted October 25, 2007 Author Share Posted October 25, 2007 i can't remeber whose R50 is was, but it look like they had new control arms i thought it was Pezzy, guess not though. I swear it was somebody that had the TJM though. The reason i thought his was because it looked liked they were at less of an angle. I have me a front skid plate that i made after i demolished the stock one. And i'm and currently saving for some of those rocky road sliderz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 xplorx4 has new control arms, as he damaged his, and a few members have subframe drop lifts. Depending on how that's engineered, it could lessen the angle the arms are at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPLORx4 Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 I've been wheeling my R50 pretty hard since '98, and I've never reinforced anything in the front suspension. While I do have a pretty sturdy custom-built metal front skid plate, everything else pretty much uses stock parts. Amazingly, I've never bent a tie-rod, in spite of how much longer they are than those on the WD21 and Xterra (which seem to break quite frequently). As Simon mentioned, I did bend a front control arm (click for pic) last year when I accidentally smacked an obscured log, dead-on with the edge of my front passenger-side tire at around 5mph. The impact yanked the steering wheel out of my hands and bent the control arm, causing the right-side wheel to be pushed backwards about 1.5" from normal. It's the only real front-suspension damage I have ever sustained in over 150,000 miles of ownership. Granted, how "weak" a part is is purely a function of how much it's abused. If you drive conservatively and carefully, you shouldn't ever have a problem with the control arms. The control arm is certainly not a part that I would consider weak, and in need of mandatory reinforcement. I'm actually glad it bent first, rather than bending something else, such as the subframe. On the other hand, the rear lower links (aka control arms) are much more vulnerable to damage, especially when rock-crawling. I bent one of them while crawling over a big rock, so I had both rear lower control arms reinforced with angle-iron to prevent bending. (click for pics) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FUELER Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 (edited) Although it's not as bad as the IFS on a 87-95 Pathfinder or a hardbody.... it's still not bulletproof. The hard section of coyote creek in Anza Borrego desert did this to me: PS it is really strut related.... the top of my KYB GR2 stripped itself under the pressures of low-range rock crawling on 32's Edited October 26, 2007 by FUELER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FUELER Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Other than that.... my only problems have been a bent subframe.... 6 alignment shops not being able to get my QX4 to drive straight.... never had a broken CV or broken tie rod, thank the lord, and knock on wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nissandoms47 Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 I've broken numerous CV's bent the actual struts on both sides, bent inner tie rods umm and stripped out a strut like fueler but thats cause i was being crazy. Other then that its pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plus Posted October 26, 2007 Author Share Posted October 26, 2007 anyone with swaybar disconnects? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 For the front? There really is no point. The front suspension articulates so little, that a sway bar or lack thereof makes no difference. In the rear, absolutely, but in the front, you'd be wasting your money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csutke Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 or you could just remove the bars altogether Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 I have no idea about doing that on an R50, as I don't drive one, however, on my WD21, I found that it was a little sloppy on road, and didn't give me any benefit off road with the front one removed. The rear, however....big difference off road, and almost no difference on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPLORx4 Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 For the front? There really is no point. The front suspension articulates so little, that a sway bar or lack thereof makes no difference. In the rear, absolutely, but in the front, you'd be wasting your money. I would have to disagree with that. I noticed a huge difference in front suspension articulation with no swaybar. The rear didn't seem to do very much at all. I finally removed it last year when it snapped in half. I guess too many off-road miles and axle-twisting obstacles killed it! Regarding disconnects for the front, you can't do it with any commerically-available products. Many years ago, I tried using JKS disconnects designed for a Jeep, but I discovered that the swaybar bangs and clanks around when disconnected, since it rests on top of the CV axles. I abandoned the use of the JKS disconnects after my first trip out with them installed, and eventually opted to completely remove the front swaybar permanently. The only disconnect design that I think could possibly work at all on the R50 would be something following this concept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 REALLY? The R50 must have quite a bit more travel in it than the WD21 in terms of the front end. See.....don't let a WD21 guy talk about R50 specific stuff....apparently I don't know sh!t! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPLORx4 Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 (edited) REALLY? The R50 must have quite a bit more travel in it than the WD21 in terms of the front end. I'm not aware of the WD21 IFS travel, but the first photo below shows my R50 at max flex without a front swaybar. This old photo shows flex with the front swaybar installed: The difference is about 2-3" of articulation. There are more R50 flex pics here. This pic of system-f's caR50 shows how much the front will flex without a swaybar. (Note that the driver's side A-arm is level with the lower crossmember, compared to the second photo of my truck above.) Edited October 27, 2007 by XPLORx4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichiganAve Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 Haven't tried taking off the front. In the rear you can easily remove the links and the bar doesn't really run into anything. My setup is really easy to remove the rear link on as I'm using a stillen bar which has just a single vertical bolt to remove the entire link. I'm running on the road right now with the links off and while there is slightly more sway, its not a huge difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csutke Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 Haven't tried taking off the front. In the rear you can easily remove the links and the bar doesn't really run into anything. My setup is really easy to remove the rear link on as I'm using a stillen bar which has just a single vertical bolt to remove the entire link. I'm running on the road right now with the links off and while there is slightly more sway, its not a huge difference. do you have pics of this bar that your talking about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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