As far as Baja vehicles and Trophy Trucks go, you'll notice they do have independent front suspension which provides great flew. The thing is, they are 2wd for the most part. Throw 4wd under there and you limit the flex a lot. You'll also notice that the still maintain a solid rear axle on these trucks too. The front suspension on the 95+ trucks has tremendous limitation. The short-long arm setup has very little room for flex. Yeah, Hummers have fully independent suspension, but that suspension is setup for some hard use. Our Explorers how ever are not. Plus, have you ever seen a Hummer with its tires shoved up in the wells? Even Hummers have very limited flex with their offroad design suspension. If I recall correctly, the Hummer also has some gearing in the wheel area so the axle runs into the top of the wheel instead of directly to the wheel like our Explorers. This allows for the truck to sit higher. Not sure if that came out right.
The 91-94 Explorers have a pretty good setup with the TTB. The 2wd 91-94 Explorers can be set up great for Baja. In order for a fully independent suspension to be all around good offroad, the best thing to do would be to have the axle pumpkin in the middle and some long suspension arms coming out from the pumpkin. The rear on the newer Explorers are like this, but bear in mind the New Explorers were designed for the grocery getter. Beaf it up and it would be great. Take out the short-long arm setup in the front and put something like the Rear suspension and you have yourself something pretty capable. Only downside is, don't expect your tires to be flat on the ground.
The part about independent suspension not sitting flat isn't true, for the most part. The short-long arm setup allows for the tire to remain level with the road at all times. This is the issue with front wheels drive cars. If you watch the front tires react, they remain flat to the road. But if you look at the rear, where less attention is payed because they do not have to concern themselves with a drivetrain or anything, the tires will swing in. This is what happens with the 91-94 Explorers. With the TTB setup, the front tires swing in, this is a different kind of IFS setup. This is too much to explain and write about. Truth is, if you put independent suspension all around that is like the short-long arm suspension on the 95+ Explorers, the tires remain flat. Anyway... Sorry if this is confusing. Here are some pics:
Another downside to Independent Suspension is that it leaves sort of a wall, especial when you lift it. A good front skid plate can correct this. This is a benefit to IFS, the fact that you can cover the front end pretty wheel with a skid plat which can help when the short comings com into play.
Another downside, as many of the 95+ guys know, don't count on a slip differential or locker up front! Ok, enough of my blabbing!
, what's ford becoming, just finished reading the article on the new motor trend
