No stupid answers please. Im an ASE master mechanic and I'm looking to hear from experienced off roaders. I'm new to offroading. I'm driving an F250 460 Bigblock 4x4. I know my u joints breaking are normal but am I to expect the same from my tie rods and front manual locking hub wheel bearings once a month if not once a week (I stay up on my alignments). I just bounced my truck three times straight sideways (that's when I really felt the wheel bearings and tie rods go out) so I know I'm very abusive but they are...well were brand new. Is there something I should do as far as suspension or aftermarket parts. I've been doing my homework but any suggestions would help. Rear axle is 30 years old and still kicking major *!*, front end not so much. I do a lot of jumping and climbing. Any suggestions would help. I have an IFS dana 44 front axle. I don't really think of a center pivot axle as IFS and I always thought it looked crappy for offroading. Could it be I need a solid axle?
What size tires are you running? The number one rule of off roading is to drive as slow as possible but as fast as necessary. I am a avid off roader and have over 1500 trail miles with my Land Rover and over 500 miles with a Mitsubishi that I had and have never once broken anything. So my first suggestion is to slow down, if you insist on not treading lightly and ruining it for the rest of us then bigger tiers aired down will provide a softer landing. But seriously, please Tread Lightly, they are closing trails left and right here in MI because people are abusing them and ruining the joys of off roading for the rest of us. We pack the cooler and dog and take the kids out all the time, they love it as much as we do. Until you get the ssholes in the big super moded trucks doing 50mph down the trails pretending that they are in the Baja 1000 with mud and dirt and endangered flowers flying everywhere. It should be legal to shoot these people.
no you should not be breaking wheel bearings and tie rods every couple weeks. I have done plenty of off-roading and have never busted a wheel bearing from it. unless you are jumping the truck several feet in the air and turning the steering wheel before it lands. You should not have this problem at all. either you are getting bad parts or they are being installed improperly. And as far as the IFS not being good enough I would not worry about that. The twin I-beam suspension is at least 1 of the best suspensions that you can get for off-roading (especially jumping) EDIT Yes you can beef up the tie rod ends but There is not a way to do the same for the wheel bearings that I know of. Basically if you want to treat the truck like that then you should expect to have to repair it daily. Also if the truck has independent front suspension then it does not have front leaf springs. I would think that a ASE certified mechanic could tell the difference between the 2 but I may be wrong
