by Garet Harris

Created on: April 20, 2009

It's one thing to say a truck is tough, it's another thing entirely to chose the toughest of the lot. With that in mind we are going to need some classification and clarification to arrive at a conclusion. The thing is that a chassis design that does well for one thing doesn't necessarily do well for another. There are four primary chassis types out there and available. While all of the big three have some type of IFS or independent front suspension available on its late model light duty trucks, this type of suspension is good for one thing only, driving down the highway. It's extremely limited travel and unfriendly up fitting ability makes it worthless for more than passive off road use. Sense off road use is the prime defining characteristic of a tough truck we shall consider this type of suspension closed.

The toughest trail beast truck, Is a straight axle setup on leaf packs. This design is tried and true, will take the worst punishment you can throw at it and literally last for decades without significant problems. The original fords up to 1976,all Chevy pickups to 1987, and Dodge pickups up to 1993 fall under this category.

Honorable mentions go to the jeep and old school jeep Cherokee as they also have this suspension type.

Straight axle leaf sprung ford 1 tons can be found up to 2002 at least the same cannot be said for Chevrolet who sadly adopted the ifs and have hung on to it like a pit bull with a steak. Now also among the straight axle designs are the dodge pickups , the ton s are 1994 to 2005, while the and 1 tons are to the current model year the later model ford super duty from about 04 up also fall in this category. This suspension while using a straight axle is suspended via a 5 link system and sprung using coils. Not a bad setup for general use but it can get squirrelly at times.

Last but not least is my favorite all around suspension system The ttb twin traction beam system , available on 1980 to1996 f150 as a coil sprung setup and 1980 to 1996 f250 as a leaf sprung setup. These suspensions rock. Jumps, trails, rock climbing, it can handle it, mud is not a favorite for this type suspension though it does manage. To judge a truck by an engine and transmission combination or its cab and bed is to exclude what really makes a truck a truck, an el Camino has a bed, but that doesn't make it a truck. The real defining characteristic is the running gear and suspension package, a motor is a motor it provides power. It is in the suspension that true toughness is found. For my money it depends on what your going to do with it.

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