Should you ever be so bold as to take your pickup truck off the beaten path, suspension flex – or “axle articulation” – is an attribute that you might be interested in understanding.
Basically, axle articulation is a measure of the total allowable vertical displacement on a wheel before another wheel starts to lose contact – and therefore, traction – with the driving surface. It tells us a lot about how well an offroad vehicle might be expected to cope when traversing over large obstacles like boulders.
The folks at The Fast Lane Truck recently took it upon themselves to test the suspension flex of a Ford SVT Raptor against that of the new, 2016 Ram Power Wagon, using a basic ramp travel test. It’s an enlightening comparison; the Power Wagon, with its solid front axle, ought to outperform the independent-front suspension of the SVT Raptor, although the Ram’s sway bar first needs to be disconnected for it to accomplish its full suspension flex.
Watch the video above to find out which offroad machine – the Ford SVT Raptor, or the new Ram Power Wagon – accomplishes the best ramp travel score.
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