Rugged
pick-up underpinnings !
The basic chassis
is from the Ford Ranger/Mazda Fighter, pick-up trucks that are quite
popular in Thailand. Even though the wheelbase of the Ranger was shortened
to make the Endeavour more manoeuvrable specially for city traffic,
at 2860mm, its wheelbase is still longer than that of the Pajero by
80mm. The construction of the Endeavour is of a body bolted on to
an overlap, cross-braced ladder type frame. This type of chassis has
been persevered with to make the Endeavour a rugged vehicle, capable
of taking on the worst of roads in developing countries and offer
true off-roading capabilities.
The Endeavour uses a double wishbone front suspension, using torsion
bar springs and a stabiliser bar. The innovation here is that an upper
arm mount made of rubber has been used to provide a smooth ride over
gravel and moderately rough roads.
At the rear Ford has gone along with the dated, rugged leaf spring
suspension with low friction pads. Leaf springs with the Berlin Eye
design have been used at the rear with the system having been designed
to achieve progressive spring characteristics rather than a simple
two-stage (laden/unladen) design. Tubular double acting composite
oil/gas filled shock absorbers do duty all around.
|
February
2004