I-Beam front end on patrol

[nedm]

http://giantmotorsports.com/index.php?o ... &Itemid=58" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

anyone see any fundamental flaws in the fitment of this to a GQ front end? obviously i woyld get them to fabricate a knuckle setup that incorporated a nissan stud pattern.

im looking for long travel suspension front and rear and this i think is a prettu good answer. yes i know that patrols werent designed for this type of offroading but its my perfect vehicle. hiluxes which i can also get bolt on long travel kits for are too small, and have to be widended 4inches each side to only acheive half these travel numbers, the plus the 4wd sytem dont last long.

[toughnut]

Main thing I can think of is that the front pumkin is offset to the drivers side which would make this pretty difficult to do. I've seen these kits on offroad racers and they go pretty well. They get some pretty big angles on the CV's. It'd be a massive amount of work but would be interesting to see.

[BowTieGQ]

Um, WTF. It has no real purpose. Does it? A whole lot of engineering just to get a real bad ifs. Real bad. Or is it me?

[Yom]

Um, WTF. It has no real purpose. Does it? A whole lot of engineering just to get a real bad ifs. Real bad. Or is it me?

Its probably one of the cheapest ways you can get a tough IFS system on a vehicle which will be used in terrain and at speeds where a solid axle presents a handling disadvantage (i think)

An issue on patrol would be the low engine - would have it to lift it higher up/custom sump? Also possibly patrol's chassis might be a bit wide in the front compared to the track? Guess that isn't an issue though as you'll be cutting the coil hats off and using coilovers.

[toughnut]

Its a pretty common setup for truggies and the like for off road racing.

[351ciofgrunt]

Don't old F150 series 4x4 trucks have a similar front diff?

[nedm]

yeh its a pretty standard front end across the older Ford fullsize trucks. its quite old school in its design and it does have it drawbacks. like as the arms cycle, the wheel dosent keep a constant camber angle, like a normal IFS, instead it swings in an arc. not too much of a problem, although road use does see tyres getting chewed out a bit more unevenly.
heres a video of it in action on an american ford ranger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWXNlVy3TEE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

i thought bout the engine sump, but from what i remember last time i looked under the GQ, isnt the engine behind the axle?

the driveshafts all lining up may be the biggest issue i come across i think, unless i i can get that company in america to fab up some totally custom ones to suit the drifeshhft layout of the patrol, which im sure wouldnt be too hard.

[toughnut]

Yes the lower part of the sump sits behind the axle but the drive shaft will need to run down the center of the chassis whereas it runs down the drivers side of the engine at the moment.

[nedm]

would i be right in assuming that if these were custom made for a GQ then the sump wouldnt be an issue cause the standard driveshaft placemnt would be retained.

[Tiny]

would i be right in assuming that if these were custom made for a GQ then the sump wouldnt be an issue cause the standard driveshaft placemnt would be retained.

your diff would need to be cental not offset so you would need to figure that out as well

[toughnut]

Yeah thats right. Your diff pumkin needs to be central to allow enough room so you can run CV's on the drop axle side of the setup. Otherwise you'd end up with even more rediculous angles than you would with the pumkin in the centre.

I'm pretty sure that the guys that used to do this would rotate their transfer case so the front shaft was running directly under their sump.

[zookimal]

None of the setups shown on the GiantMS link have a centred pumpkin.

[nedm]

very true mate. leads me to either two conclusions: all the vehicles these are designed for are offset pumpkin or it wouldnt work with the centre pumpkin. in any case, ive sent them an email to feel them out and see what they think about the conversion.

[Tiny]

I was thinking of a traditional type ifs system, looking at the pics on the link posted then yeah the offset should be fine, just needs to be fabricated for the correct side