Articulation vs traction aids and clearance.

[kairo]

I posted this in another thread, and like the OP, I don't own a crawler, but I have been around them and in them a lot.

Neither the new Bronco, nor the Rubicon are rock crawlers. They are trail rigs. Now, some trails do have rocks and ruts to get over and through, but the limiting factor in both the Bronco and the Rubicon is tire size vs anything else.

With a 33 or 35" tire, there's quite simply not much that you can't do within the vehicles limits whether you have IFS or SFA.

The breaking point, in my opinion, is 37"+ tires and a true long travel suspension. That's the minimum when you break out of trail rig and start heading towards rock crawler.

I've had two long arm travel jeeps, one on 33s, and one that sometimes had 35s, sometimes had 37s. Every trail I ran, I can confidently say could be done with a comparably equipped IFS vehicle (armor, lockers, gears, winch). I live in Northern NV, and have access to some of the best 4 wheeling in the country. A Sasquatch bronco will make it through the rubicon trail without a sweat.
Trails that I struggled running on 33s, the guy in front of me just walks his way through on 37's. Tire size gets you most of the way there, then IFS vs SFA, then the quality of the suspension itself.

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[projectbadlands]

My assessment is that a stock 4x4 with lockers front and rear will usually take that vehicle anywhere it should go, and has clearance to go. It will also be more composed while getting there.

I watch a bit of Dirtnation Off Road on YouTube. They do off road runs, with fairly large groups, which allows you to see how a wide variety of vehicles perform on different obstacles. Unlike most groups, Wranglers are not the majority of the vehicles. Taking the Wrangler out of the discussion, it's common to see ZR2s walk up steep climbs with ease, where most other vehicles are using a bit of momentum, and spinning tires.

The ZR2 does not have massive articulation, or clearance for massive tires. So, watching how it performs, is one of the better vehicles to watch, to set your expectations for the Bronco.

Here's a video that features a ZR2, and a variety of other vehicles, some of which have way more articulation.

looking through old posts and come across a video of me going up cleghorn and busting my fender flares lol

That is my ZR2 in the video.