In an era where auto manufacturers are striving to improve creature comforts and smoother riding vehicles, it is no wonder why Wrangler fans were worried about the upcoming redesign of their rough, tough, off roading machine. The fear that struck the hearts of Jeepers was the strong possibility that the Wrangler would, for the first time ever, change from utilizing a solid front axle (SFA) suspension to an independent front suspension (IFS). After all, Jeep has been spending the past 10 years converting the rest of the models in their fleet to IFS.
As a matter of fact, after Jeep swapped the Grand Cherokee to IFS in 2005, it went even further and implemented independent REAR suspension as well in 2014! For shame, Chrysler! You may be asking “So what’s the big deal? I like a smooth comfortable ride.” Only kidding of course, nobody on WranglerHQ would ever dare ask a question like that! It’s a well-known fact that off road rock crawling capabilities suffer greatly when a SFA setup is ditched for the smoother IFS. Having a solid front axle generally provides better articulation of a cars suspension, or, more wheel travel vertically. The problem is that on flat highways this articulation manifests as body roll, a big no-no in high speed safety. Off road however, articulation is manifested as the ability to flex and crawl over anything! And as we all know, the Wrangler is THE head honcho when it comes to crawling rocks, or mountains for that matter.
But Wrangler fans rejoice! A recent report in Automotive News confirms that the 2017 redesign of the Wrangler will keep its solid front axles. Jeepers of all creeds are breathing a sigh of relief all over the internet. The Wrangler has no use for IFS, it’s not created to go fast or to take hairpin corners. Its intended use is out in the sticks and in the mud, over rocks and rivers where a solid front axle is KEY.
It seems that more and more people purchasing these trucks aren’t actually using them in their intended element; instead many owners of brand new Wranglers are using them as grocery getters or mall crawlers. A large portion of owners who actually do lift their Wranglers and put on big Mud-Terrain tires often just use them to “Mall Crawl”. This only helped fuel the rumors that Jeep was switching it’s long time suspension setup. It’s safe to assume that most Wranglers owners, yes even mall crawlers, are happy that Jeep opted to keep the solid front axles, ensuring these trucks stay the best off roaders on the planet. So expect to see the redesigned Wrangler on top of a mountain near you!
