so i'm not sure if anyone has ever done this, but i'm thinking of doing a porter axle swap, front and rear, in my ranger (eventually... this would be probably years down the road) my question is, has anyone done this ever, or heard of it, or even know what i'm talking about?

portal axles are the style that they use in a unimog they connect to the top of the hub, rather than the center, like standard axles... which give you an effect like this...



it allows your truck to have the effect of larger tires, for ground clearance, without actually having the larger tires, so you can still spin them easily...

 

totally doable with the right resources, knowledge, creativity, and skill..

 

unimog axles are ussually used for this. beilive the 404's have airlockers built in aready. they are totally beef but hard to find parts for. i imagine the do have alot of drag so gears and power would be needed. there is no reason you cant do this... im not 100percent on the drop of the diff, but belive its driver side. i say go for it, you will spend the coin but will be worth every red cent imo

 

I got talked out of Mog axles realllll damn quick..

-The whole axle is cast, making it hard to get a good, strong weld (left this guy 50 miles from camp at Moab with both upper link mounts broke, coil overs broken, front drive shaft broken.. etc)
-brake fittings are down low on the inside of the spindle making them very vulnerable to damage, needs custom skids, and the parts are really hard to find out WHEN you **** them up.
-Portal boxes are pretty weak and wicked expensive
-You run into clearance problems with...everything. especially the driveshaft.
-You need a special EXPENSIVE adapter to convert from the "torque tube" (they come with, ie. driveshaft inside a tube) over to a standard yoke.
-I'm pretty sure you need some fancy steering setup, standard steering won't work on them.
-I *think* its hard to find any other gear ratios (could be wrong there)
-Like mentioned, parts are hard to find.

Hell the axles alone are pricey, you can BUILD a D60 for far less and I'm sure I'm still missing some negative points of it. I know my buddy found a pair for 3 grand around here and by the sounds of it thats a pretty good deal. Just my .02, sure it would be cool and different, but is it REALLY worth that big of a headache? Just get 1 tons, if you get hung up just back up and hit it harder.


needless to say, after talking to a guy with them for 5 minutes I was quickly talked out of ever wanting Portal Axles.


The old saying still and always will stand true. "KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid" ... live by it, especially when it comes to a wheelin rig, the less **** to go wrong on the trail.. the better.

 

^^^AMEN BROTHER!!!

 

//end thread!

 

haha, its always something nice to dream about.. but its one of the most unpractical things out there.

You should look into Portal-Tek(sp?)..they make bolt on portal boxes for some axles. and drop out 3rd member 14 bolts, those things are sick.

 

**** yeah, portal axles front and rear so you can park on tires and take pictures!

 

Only thing those are good for are for big **** military 6x6's. They are WAAAY to heavy duty to convert them to use in a Ranger. Plus I think with the planetary gear set's in there that you might end up with a top speed of 45 mph. And more than likely they rotate backwards so you have one forward gear and 5 reverse gears. I dont know for sure, but I bet cause they are so limited in production that its going to be that way. lol

 

i have always hated the fact that you lift it as much as you want, the pumpkin is still hanging down by the ground... i have read that the portal boxes can break, and wear when they are driven at high speeds,

it's kinda one of those not every day things... like everyone does a SAS on their ranger, sure it's cool, i wanna be different, just because i can

 

If you have money to blow get some Atomic Axles... OVERKILL ENGINEERING

Video.... YouTube - OVERKILL ENGINEERING : We Live For This

In all reality running 37s on up go with a GM 14bolt rear and Dana 60 front. Many parts available and both are strong axles. I say 37s because 35s and 1 tons you lose some clearance due to the larger diff/axle overall.

 

that seems kinda like a rip off... it's a ford 9 inch diff, with independant suspension cv shafts, and hubs, welded into a housing and a nearly 5 figure price tag for the cheapest set of f&r... it's really nothing special... i mean it's cool yeah, but i don't think it's worth what they are asking for them...

 

Like I said if you got $$ to burn.....

 

Mooktank had mog axles under his ranger. Along with a 4BT swap. Sweet *** truck but I think he sold it.

 

if your wanting to do a SAS and be different plan on spending a LOT of cash..

i think there is a 404 build on pirate with a ranger

http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=858967

 

that statement along with the OP, makes not much sense at all.

I thought you wanted to do it because it was cool? yet those axles are too cool?

I dont get it. Ill stick with Dana60s.

 

damnit evan! now i don't want to do it, because it's been done, and if you read the posts after the op, someone else has 404 axles he is going to put on his ranger...

Beard, i want something cool, but i don't really think those overengineering axles are really anything all that special... i mean, it's cool what they look like and how they sit, but the actual components inside the casing are not worth the money they are asking for them imo... and to top it off, the axle goes up slowly to the center, so the diagonal part still gives you clearance issues, where as the portal axle shoots up as quick as posible, so the axle tubes can be hidden behind a bumper...

i also did find a company who makes portal boxes that can be connected to a standard axle... but when i went looking for prices, i found front boxes were $109,000 each... which can't be right, and that's a little out of my price range

 

Id take those axles from Overkill. You mention the CVs well they can make CVs that are virtually indestructible.

 

agreed, but my point is, they aren't really anything special... i could make that setup for my truck... i would just have exposed cv's... it's using a bunch of parts that are commonly used, just not necissairly all together... cv shafts, d60 housing, 9 inch carrier...

where as the mog axles, they are something completely different... portal boxes are never seen...

don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that their parts are not going to do a good job... i'm just not really interested in them...

 

yeah but you have to put weight into factor. .how much do mog weigh? they look really heavy. Those overkill axles are probably pretty light.

If you notice any company building stuff and they know what they are doing dont just get the biggest and beefiest stuff.

 

CVs if on a solid axle set-up can be stronger than U-Joints. Read up on RCV.

RCV PERFORMANCE ONLINE STORE - CV JOINTS - AXLE KITS - TOOLS

Prices....
RCV Dana 44 CV Axle Set (Non-Unit Bearing, Traditional Spindle) Now Available! - Pirate4x4.Com Bulletin Board

Start adding up individual parts and you'll see $5k for an axle isn't too bad! Look at the RCVs alone! Plus it is new.....

 

Why not make a custom one off long travel kit. There, thats unique, and you can go jump it at the dunes too.

 

oh yes i know of that company. that is one of the companies i was speaking of that make CVs that are stronger than Ujoints.

 

RCVs will find their way into my rubicon...offers much less binding when steering too....as soon as I can transform my D60 into cash I will be getting RCVs!

 

I have not read the whole thread yet so I dont know if this was mentioned or not, but there is a company that make bolt on portals for D60s and maybe some others. That would solve some of the negatives mentioned by Matt.