Actually for 80% of the drivers it was their first time rockcrawling on a trail of this caliber. One FJ broke a tie rod and a rear ring & pinion at the same time and one broke a cv at the end of the trail. There was no body damage or breakage of any other kind on the trip. Everyone worked together and did an excellent job in my opinion. Does an IFS work as good as a straight axle rockcrawling? No, but you'd be suprised at what a well set up IFS FJ will do.
JonB
No doubt at all. You guys did some amazing stuff out there. Moreso now considering that first sentence there. Also consider they had the entire AllPro crew there spotting and helping to fix things. What would have the carnage been like had AllPro not been along? Probably pretty dramatic situation.
I know very well what IFS will do. I still run mine. But, the SFA is the first mod I'll do once my warranty expires. I'm not trying to build a buggy, mind you. I'm just trying to keep the tires on the ground so I can have as much control as possible when I'm out there. I also wheel alone the bulk of the time, which I know is a bad thing, but it's the way it works out. I also don't wheel the piss out of it. I actually enjoy wheeling, but for the most part, my wheeling is to get to a place my wife and I can camp without seeing another person camping anywhere near us, and where we can mountain bike and she can do 35-50 mile runs right out of camp without having to worry about running into drunk ******** out "wheeling."
So, I wheel alone, carry lots of tools, extra parts and have a decent knowledge of how to fix a lot of things and carry with me the understanding that there's probably going to come a time I have to hike out, buy a new part and hitch a ride back as far as I can go to self-rescue. So, having as much control is mandatory for me.
Again, I'm not trying to build a buggy. Just trying to get my TOYOTA FJ-C as offroad capable as possible so I feel like I have a bit of an insurance card when I go into the backcountry.
I know that there are a lot of guys on the forum here that will benefit from AllPro's SFA kit and wheel their rigs like they stole them. The SFA, for them, will let them advance that much further. It'll also hopefully keep them from having more breakdowns due to having to have a heavy foot to get up something.
Nothing but props to AllPro and they guys on that trip for doing the stuff you guys did. Great trip. Was just initially pointing out to the OP of this thread that the fact that most of the rigs made it on that run does NOT say that IFS makes your vehicle as capable as a SFA setup on the same type of trail. Not a chance.