Second, how did you bend a front TTB axle hitting a deer? I ran my passenger front tire directly into a log that was sitting in a ditch lengthwise (in snow) at ~20mph and didn't bend anything but the radius arm crossmember and the radius arm thrust washer...
well...they are easily jumpable and capable of taking lots of abuse as long as they are rolling and not under loaded hi traction power.
i ran over dear regularly. occasionally fawking up steering linkage and beams and pivot mounts and arms ect.... not every time...but quite regularly had to tweak stuff once i got a chance....
still do run over dear regulalrly. except i dont have pivot mounts anymore and just bend up the steering and leafs so far instead of destroying it at times.
but i could twist up ttb componants with just engine power and 35-38 inch tires climbing on stuff, let alone bending up stuff in a collision...glad you never had a problem.
without seeing the alignment specs and beam i cant say for sure...but under most circumstances with minor bending i would tweak the beam back to better shape and/or modify the alignment settings to maximize handling and mitigate excess tire wear untill its cracked up enough i dont trust it or leaking enough to piss me off.
mine were always tweaked because i refused to put the time and money into beefing them up when they were more plentiful. with stock power and sub 35 inch tires with no locker...its not too hard to work with.
cant knock a guy for wanting the best and straightest beam one could fit either...
as to the op....no benefit in a ltd axle for the reasons already stated..
hard to beat the explorer though....even with drum brakes.