I like to ramble so if you don't want to hear it just skip to the second paragraph ...... I'll start out by saying this (all a matter of opinion) I HATE IFS! A one ton truck is supposed to ride like a one ton truck, even "if" the IFS front end does soak up the bumps that doesn't mean that the rear end will! I remember when back in the day you expected a 4WD work truck to have either a bomb proof Dana 60, or an HD Dana 44, that's just the way it was, and if you complained about the ride quality you were a "sissy". In my opinion the worst thing GM did was try to make a work truck ride like a car. The front end of my 79 Toyota has been through level 4+ and 5 rated trails in Moab and has had absolutly No problems other than a bent tie rod that I quickly replaced with a 1.5" OD DOM unit, and on the other hand the strength of my (BIG BAD HD WORK TRUCK ) 95 Chevy IFS has to be second guessed on the mildest of dirt roads.


My 6.5L pickup just turned over 50,000 miles and my front end is shot. I need you guys to steer me in the right direction (pun intended) I don't want to replace the ball joints, idler arm, and everything else with OEM "stuff" that will just last another 50.000 miles if I'm lucky. Is there anywhere I can get BEEFY parts or am I out of luck? I know that sled pullers have to be running something more than OEM, or mabey they are just a lot braver than me. I have done many solid axle swaps in the past, but I really don't want to lift my truck more than 2 inches max, and I think the smallest SAS calls for 4" on these trucks, plus the cost is more than I'd like to spend right now anyway. Any input or ideas would be greatly appreciated thankx.