Warlockk

It seems whenever I read about the ttb front end on a 4x4 its someone bashing it in favor of a solid front axle. Now I understand the advantages of a solid front axle for serious off road, plowing, rock-climbing, heavy mud situations and big lifts. My question is, for you average weekend wheeler who commuted in his truck or hauls a load and tows some toys, I'd the ttb really all that bad. Ford used it for a long time. How does it compare to other independent front suspensions. The front end in my RWD seems much stronger than other pickups on the trail. I've hit some things pretty hard with no damage at all. The travel of those long arms rival some aftermarket setups for the competition. The I beams are similar to what you find under some of the heavy military vehicles I have worked on. On the road and even off road independent suspensions definitely have some handling advantages over a strait axle. To my thinking the ttb should be a good compromise between the strength of a solid and the handling of an independent. Is there something I'm missing? Where's the love for Ford's ttb. Isn't this one of the things that sets our trucks apart from the crowd?

fordtrucknut

i think the ttb is a great setup for what it is and what it was designed to do. but when you push it past that they are not the ideal setup.

i've ran both ttb and sas swaps in trucks. and for a daily driver or weekend wheeler the tbb is a fine setup. it rides nice on the road and their is alot more travel in it than you would expect.

the main problem is it wearing out tires. this can be fixed by using quality replacement parts ie: ball joints and tierods. their is a reason they sell the cheap parts cheap. and finding a capable shop that knows the nature of the ttb that can align the tires.

as for most of the people on this forum and most people that want to do an sas swap it is not worth it in my opinion. unless your going to be doing some nasty offroading the tbb works just fine. i've had numerous fords and have only converteda few to sas.

at least we didnt have the true indepentent setup that chevy used during the 90's now you talk about a turd on the trails.

87F150Cobra

Chevy STILL uses the Torsion bar IFS (1988-Present), its junk, doesn't flex worth a crap and is expensive to lift.

Im a chevy guy, and wished chev went same route as ford with TTB, its a great setup.

BassAckwards

I think my friends 2wd 08 1500 has coilovers on the front but his 03 2500HD we just lifted has Torsion Bars and an Open-C Frame

95EddBau

+1 for ttb its great on the road with no lift which is how ford intended and +1 for quality parts to help tire wear

5Rangers

I guess I wonder which parts are best quality, I'm planning on tuning up the front end on mine and am in the planning stages of bearings, seals, ball joints and tie rod ends..

Any suggestions on parts selection?

I'm thinking Timken bearings and Dana bj's....