What he said.......

 

I wasnt talking about the sh^tty H2, im talking about the H1. Trust me I drove them plenty and they are very capable of sideslopping, we had one at over 40%sideslope (stock)

 

ridinredODB,

I competed in the Top Truck Challenge with that Hummer. I was in the blue TJ that finished second place overall, and I won the event that the Hummer rolled on. You are right, the Hummer was a joke, and it was the only vehicle to roll at that years competition (and it was an H1).

I don't think you can compare a solid axle Jeep suspension to a solid rear axle ATV suspension though. The Jeeps solid axle will articulate, whereas the ATVs solid rear axle only moves up and down, and has ZERO articulation because it uses a swingarm instead of leaf springs or trailing arms that allow the articulation.

OL

 

40% aint nothin

 

STOCK

 

do you want a cookie?
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

What race cars?

Nascar-Nope Craftsman truck- Nope Drag cars-Nope Street stock-Nope Late model-Nope IMCA Modifieds-Nope Mini stock-Nope Legends-Nope Bombers-Nope

About the only race cars that have IRS is Indy, or Indy type cars. In their class, weight is a huge issue. They can run inboard brakes and super light stuff on the outboard side to keep the unsprung weight down. If unsprung weight is an issue, then yes, IRS is nice; otherwise IRS does not bite worth a damn in dirt.

Oh, one more thing. IMOHO Hummers are junk!!!! The real ones, not the Hll. I saw one in the shop the other day; it had a hole in the transfer case. They have a rubber band transfer case. Ha ha ha ha, not even a gear to gear like I thought!!!! Suspension was tough though.

 

Had alot of similar questions, as I've been researching my first ATV purchase. I know that IRS is the latest craze and supposedly offers a more comfortable ride. I don't know that I'll be doing much "rock climbing"...probably mainly just trail riding w/ the occassional mud hole. More than anything, I want something that handles well...and predictably. I've really only ridden one bike (SP500) with IRS, and it was definitely a comfortable ride. Never had the opportunity to ride a SRA. Are they really that uncomfortable? If I went on an all-day trail ride, would it beat me to death? FYI...the SRA I'm looking at is the Prairie700 / BF650.

 

Going from a SP 500 to an All day ride on a Prairie 700 Or BF 650, you would not be complaining about the stiffer more agile ride. You would be suffering from blurred vision, White-Knuckles, wet Underwear, and a permanent $$$hit-eating-grin.

I Owned a Sportsman 500 & don't miss it!!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Hello Daranello75. I think Doctorturbo pretty much hit it on the head when he said that F1 cars and such use IRS because they want to reduce the unsprung weight. These cars often race over normal roads that have bumps, cracks and such. When you hit these types of bumps at 100 mph, the suspension has to react quickly. The lower the unsprung weight, the faster it reacts. Quads that jump 10 feet in the air prefer to be light with big suspension travel. Unsprung weight is less of an issue and overal weight is more of an issue. This is probably done best with a swing arm. I suspect that double a-arms with double cv joints and a differential would add considerable weight to the sports quad. Also, the rotating inertia of such a suspension on a sports quad would be considerably higher with IRS than the straight axle.
The utility quad, on the other hand, may be most interested in articulation and clearance. As a result, the utility quad prefers IRS. The articulation and clearance seems to be most important when trying to crawl over logs and such. With IRS all tires are ideally in contact with the ground to provide maximum traction. As far as front suspension, I feel the struts are much more durable than the double a-arms. The reason is that virtually all of the shock of hitting a bump is transfered directly to the shock with no intervening joints. The lower a-arm of a strut system has no vertical loading and only resists side loads. The double a-arm, on the other hand, has 6 rotating joints (including the shock joints) and two ball joints. On a typical bump all joints are under some type of stress.

As far as jeeps go, OuterLimit is right on. The articulation of a Jeep TJ with a 6 inch lift is unbelievable. The moded jeeps have such low gear ratios that they regularly break rear axles and front u-joints. I don't know that you could fit an IRS into a Jeep that would provide as much articulation and not snap u-joints. And an H1 doesn't even come close.