Skipper Jon Walters was back after missing the Palace game for picking up five yellow cards, and took just four minutes to find the net for his sixth goal of the season.
Stern John released him down the left-hand channel and Walters then cut in to fire in a left-foot shot which seemed to take a deflection off Rangers' Kaspars Gorkss as it bounced past Radek Cerny.
Gareth McAuley and Damien Delaney directed free headers off target from Grant Leadbitter corners as Town dominated and Walters should have added a second when Jaime Peters' cross found him in the clear but Cerny blocked his shot and QPR scrambled the loose ball away.
Adel Taarabt, who was at the centre of most good things from the visitors, should have drawn Paul Hart's men level on 22 minutes when Peter Ramage's excellent cross found him unmarked six yards out but he glanced his header wide.
Taarabt also tested Arran Lee-Barrett with a 35-yarder and a lob which went just wide, while Town saw efforts from Leadbitter, Peters and Delaney all fail to trouble Cerny.
Taarabt created an opportunity which Jay Simpson fired wide early in the second half, and that was the only chance for either side in a quiet start after the break until Stead's first goal on 63 minutes.
Substitute Jack Colback launched an angled ball forward, Stead controlled it with his back to goal on the edge of the box, turned Gorkss and curled a neat shot around Cerny and into the corner.
Cerny saved another Stead effort while Lee-Barrett kept out a Ramage drive and a Ben Watson header before substitute Patrick Agyemang glanced another header over as Rangers tried to rally.
Any chance the visitors had of a comeback was extinguished on 78 minutes when Liam Rosenior freed Walters down the left and Cerny could only palm his low cross into the path of Stead who swept home his sixth of the campaign.
Stead should have gone on to claim the match ball as he had two good chances to seal a hat-trick late on, first seeing Cerny save his shot following a Walters pass and then shooting inches wide after sub Connor Wickham had played him in.
Lee-Barrett made his best save in stoppage time when he denied a fierce low drive from Watson, but it was a day to forget for the visitors, whose midfielder Akos Buzsaky was constantly booed by home fans for his part in ex-Ipswich boss Jim Magilton's sacking at Loftus Road.