People are still very stuck in the old "solid rear axle required" mindset
- Thread starter nate6966
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I want a solid rear axle for Simplicity and increased durability and Lester likelihood of needing repairs.
Solid rear axles are usually Bulletproof. Even if you never have an internal problem with independent rear suspension you will eventually have to replace you the boots or the half shafts on it. The benefit and one that I really enjoy is having independent is the seats that fold absolutely flat because of the geometry.
Solid rear axles are usually Bulletproof. Even if you never have an internal problem with independent rear suspension you will eventually have to replace you the boots or the half shafts on it. The benefit and one that I really enjoy is having independent is the seats that fold absolutely flat because of the geometry.
NyackRob79
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Solid rear axles are good for off-roading in Moab. For passenger comfort, independent rear wins by a ten fold. The only reason current Suburban/Escalade still use this prehistoric tech is because GMC has been slow to keep up with modern times and continues to grandfather its truck platform onto passenger vehicles. 2021 Suburban/Escalade is going to have the same independent rear suspension as Expedition, and thank God.
Yes. They push to put the latest and greatest tech or design on things that most buyers don't want. Well most don't understand at all. Then they market it as how much better it is and then the buyers....oh of course we want that....Bull crap.
Uneducated or ones with no experience with both believe it hook, line, and sinker.
I put 150K miles on my 2005 Expedition... never touched the rear axle other then fluid change when I traded it on my 17. The ride quality, cargo improvements, and reliability make it a no-brainer to me. I had an 18 Suburban as a loaner last year and couldn't get over the awful ride, and horrible by comparison cargo area.
I race my solid rear axle Mustang on road courses. It has some Roush tweaks but the big change is the Eaton TrueTrac rear end. That makes a big differncein handeling. I love the way it handles.
I agree with you rjdelp, the car magazines would lampoon the Mustang for the solid rear. Justly or unjustly ... it was one of their major talking points.
Final point, a buddy of mine has a Danali and an Expedition. The Danaliis more like a truck and he uses it like a truck. The Expeditionis the vechicle he takes to Florida from NY because of how it handles the roads. He towes with both but only pushes snow with the GMC. I am not sure if you could put a polow on 3rd or 4th Gen Expi.
Well I would hope it wouldn't need anything done at 150 k.
That's my point. Differentials never needed anything done to them not even fluid changes. As long as they didn't get jacked up and bend the cover and start leaking you never had the touch them unless you had the top off the gear lube because they were making a noise from being low. They would go 300 to 400 Thousand Miles. They always outlive the vehicle they were in. I have bought lots of rear axles from old cars in junkyards to get a different gear ratio and they were probably 20 years old when I bought them and they were still perfectly good with who knows how many miles. The things just don't wear out as long as you keep fluid in them.
This is exactly part of the problem with cars today and why I say they had cars perfected around 2000-2005 and now they're going downhill. People are accepting that things may need to have repairs at a hundred a hundred fifty thousand miles. I'm not. In the old cars up through the 70s parts were worn out by a hundred thousand and often cars are ready for the junkyard but then cars improved and we have been spoiled for a good 20 plus years with cars that go a quarter of a million miles and basically need nothing but the occasional oil change and probably an alternator.
A differential lasting 150k doesn't impress me at all because for me that's a given and certainly expected.
Like I said earlier, I love the fact the seats fold flat and if that's what I have to have is a new style differential with half shafts that will probably have to have the boots replaced by the time it's 20 years old then that's worth it but for some people that don't care about the back storage area it would not be.
I have a friend that kept talking about how much nicer the second generation Navigator ride was and I just don't see it. I have a second generation Navigator and a first generation Expedition and to me I can't tell any difference in the way they ride.
A solid rear axle should ride more like a truck but I just don't feel it. Now at handling on curves and a road course, there is no comparison. Independent rear suspension will always give you better traction and better feeling performance on a road course. This is why I Ford was pushing to take the Mustang there and to get into current technology but most people that wanted the Mustangs were into drag racing and not road racing.
They were only concerned about straight line performance and durability and they do the old 8.8 traction Lok very well and already had them figured out how to beef them up. I will say that often independent rear suspension with the other geometry designs that go with it often give you better traction.
Anyone who ever did a lot of road racing back in the 60s through 1990 knows that a Corvette might not be fast in those years but they certainly had great traction. All the other faster cars would spin the tires with the solid rear axle. The Corvettes would squat and go.
I'm not aware of any widespread or common problems with the Expedition/Navigator rear suspension system. They've been in place since 2004. Pretty tried and true. Is this more of a personal preference discussion? My Buddy's 2001 Expedition rode like my Bronco for the most part. My 05 Expedition rode like a sedan. Granted my truck's only off road exposure is the beach for surf fishing. There probably is a small percentage of Expedition buyers who want to put 35's on there an a lift. However they are definitely the minority. These trucks are designed to be family all purpose vehicles where comfort and and cargo run priorities. Rock crawling or dune jumping weren't in the initial market preview ;-)
shane_th_ee
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I came to the Expedition from an XJ Cherokee. I'm always amused by all these IRS discussions which studiously ignore the IFS. For the old school crowd, Toyota does still make the Land Cruiser... too bad about the payload.
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