Do you think the Wrangler will ever have IFS?

[jodomcfrodo]

Why are solid axles preferable to independent suspension for an off-road vehicle?

Thats a pretty loaded question in a lot of communities and really depends on what you're doing off-road. When looking at ultra 4 cars or even rock bouncers now, you'll see some people running independent suspension and some running solid axle. The trade off of IFS in ultra 4 is that you'll do better in the desert and worse in the rocks. Most people aren't using Jeeps to run 130 mph through the desert so a solid axle just makes sense. You can build a beefy offroad independent suspension, but it takes a lot of money (strength is a big issue for independent suspension because of the CV joints) and won't work that well when rock crawling. You have to think about how the jeep will move with independent suspension and where the weight will be concentrated. Just to name a few issues with IFS: when the suspension compresses with IFS, your ground clearance actually decreases as well. This isn't the case with a solid axle. Another issue is travel. The arms on independent suspension can only be so long, which will limit the amount of flex you have (you can solve this issue with some trickery, but it just takes a lot of money. For example, Trophy Trucks have a lot of travel and use independent suspension).

 

[Chris]

Why are solid axles preferable to independent suspension for an off-road vehicle?

You can usually get a lot more articulation out of a solid axle setup than independent suspension.

Not to mention that solid axle setups are a lot easier to wrench on, that's for sure.

 

[S.McArthur]

Remember when they used square headlights??? I could see Jeep going to IFS, this will upset the "real" Jeep fans, yet the typical high school girl/bro-country homie won't care what suspension is underneath it, as long as Luke Bryan/Weezy is playable on the radio.
When Harley went to the Milwaukee 8 engine, it was designed to reduce, if not remove, the vibration of the typical Harley engine produces. Well, guess what, test riders hated it, said it took away from the "Harley" feel. Harley had to make the engine less "efficient" to replace the vibration riders wanted.
With that said, Harley is a niche market whereas Jeep has a much larger consumer pool, so the impact/pressure from the consumer is greater for Harley. Jeep can go ahead and say "deal with it", yet I do not think they would go that far to take away from the heritage. Unless they can develop an IFS system that can perform as well as, or better, than solid axles, without outrageous cost, I see the Jeep sticking with solid axles.
*Will it happen? Yes.
*When will it happen? When Chrysler figures out how much it stands to gain/lose.
*Why? Generations change, look at all these dumb, over lifted, big stretched wheel, clean as a whistle trucks running around. How you gonna put a deer in those trucks.

 

[wraith1516]

Only if the whiny bitch soccer moms have anything to do with it a Jeep should never have Ifs

 

[Chris]

Remember when they used square headlights??? I could see Jeep going to IFS, this will upset the "real" Jeep fans, yet the typical high school girl/bro-country homie won't care what suspension is underneath it, as long as Luke Bryan/Weezy is playable on the radio.
When Harley went to the Milwaukee 8 engine, it was designed to reduce, if not remove, the vibration of the typical Harley engine produces. Well, guess what, test riders hated it, said it took away from the "Harley" feel. Harley had to make the engine less "efficient" to replace the vibration riders wanted.
With that said, Harley is a niche market whereas Jeep has a much larger consumer pool, so the impact/pressure from the consumer is greater for Harley. Jeep can go ahead and say "deal with it", yet I do not think they would go that far to take away from the heritage. Unless they can develop an IFS system that can perform as well as, or better, than solid axles, without outrageous cost, I see the Jeep sticking with solid axles.
*Will it happen? Yes.
*When will it happen? When Chrysler figures out how much it stands to gain/lose.
*Why? Generations change, look at all these dumb, over lifted, big stretched wheel, clean as a whistle trucks running around. How you gonna put a deer in those trucks.

Too funny! I almost choked on my water I laughed so hard. The bro country, Luke Bryan / Weezy comment is literally exactly something I would have said. Hilarious, but so accurate.