The 1500 is certainly no expedition vehicle in the sense of a built 2500 or Jeep Wrangler etc, we know that, its not like we're trying to pawn something off here as something its not...it is however a decent weekend warrior for the average guy who:
- Probably doesn't read this forum
- Needs and everyday truck
- Looking for ride quality
Personally, its not for me, in the same sense that a grand cherokee is not for me. I tow too heavy, use my trucks in more extreme off-roading and carry a lot of toys...but there are certainly a lot of people who the 1500 does work for who would hate loading kids etc into my 3500.
It also made sense for AEV to support people who are in fact weekend warriors because:
- We already had parts like the snorkel and bumpers and hoods
- In the same way that v6 chargers help produce crazy animals like the hellcat, and the 1500 helps pay for things like powerwagons...There are a lot of 1500 people out there and frankly, being able to open up the market for more bumpers and snorkels means that we can afford to make more parts for the HD which is beneficial to most of us reading this particular forum, there are a lot of parts we'd love to do for the HD, but if there is no business case, we can't do them, getting the 1500 on board helps with that, so if its not for you, thats ok, the 1500 may in fact benefit you (us) indirectly.
- Introduces the brand and the utility of such a vehicle to a new audience who might move up to a Prospector, Prospector XL or Wrangler in the future.
On terms of the 1500 IFS suspension, a LOT of thought has been put into this IFS kit and its unique in many ways:
- The Stamped front Skidplate to maintain ground clearance (even though the diff is being dropped). We looked at a bunch of 1500 kits and found out there are serious geometry issues with all of them, so we wanted to fix those issues. The drop brackets and lowering the differential is necessary on the IFS because of the CV joint angles and the axle shaft plunge lengths, in order to do something different, we would have needed to extend the axles, which would also mean, upper AND lower control arms and fender flares etc...youd be looking at $$$ and basically outside the scope of the target audience. That being said...unlike every other IFS kit out there, while we did drop the differential, we then shrink wrapped a stamped 3/16 steel skidplate up around everything which means that even though the diff is lower, you aren't really losing much clearance at the diff like every other IFS kit I know of. There is no other way to lift an IFS truck like the 1500 without either changing the axles and CVs or dropping the diff. We are also working with Bilstien on a high zoot bypass coilover that will actually make this thing into a bit of a sleeper.
- High strength alloy front knuckles (to reduce unsprung weight) I believe the only on the market. In addition, most (all?) IFS kits on the market use a cast steel knuckle, the factory uses an aluminum knuckle, the unsprung weight is critical to ride quality, so we also went with an aluminum knuckle with an ultra high strength alloy in order to compensate for the taller design. Going with a cast steel knuckle would have given up way too much in ride quality, which after all is the point with an IFS suspension to begin with.
- Unique Tie Rod Ends to facilitate 18" wheels. The 20s were only a stopgap until our 18s were done being mfg and which will be shown at OE17 in a couple weeks. 20s are dumb unless on at least a 40" tire, we know that
We did a lot just to be able to get 18s on it including developing our own tie rod end to make it possible. 17s just couldn't do it without affecting geometry.
We'll have one at OE17 to take a look at, come talk to us about it.
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