age? does it really matter?
4-door, planning on some over-landing, more storage space, should be more stable towing platform as opposed to the 2-door tonka toy, in addition the doors on a 4 door are shorter and therefore easier to fully open in tight parking spaces
definitely found the weak link, also clear case of YT/TT wannabe looking for their 15 mins of fame or shame as it maybe. Good luck with the warranty claim once Ford pulls the "id ten t" code from the computer.
As to temp field repairs this is a good reason to carry some short pieces of angle...