2.5 lift and portals or 6 inch lift?

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Beowulf said:
Drexx built his 80 with Hummer portals on Ford axles.

HummerPortals.jpg


His description says:
Differential Engineering portal axles; armored Humvee portal boxes on Ford 9” diffs on custom axles housing & GMC K2500 disc brakes & Humvee CTIS

I'm sure it was spendy.

-B-
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Absolutely awesome, I had no idea that an industry such as that had been developed wow. Can they adapt any axle cases and diffs such as the 80? It looks a very professional and tidy job should have no problems with something like that on or off road. What is the link Web address? How would portals afect over all gearing?
 
Concrete - that was exactly my plan when I got the Volvo portals about 2 years ago. I got as far as fabbing up control arm mounts, figuring out the panhards etc then decided against it. I still think that long term its the way to go - you get the clearance without raising the center of gravity as much etc.
 
fj40m4 said:
Humm 9 portals under Drexx's U80, all new parts, 8 inches of lift, 4 inches wider track width than stock, CTI, ARBs, 4:80 final drive, almost 16 inches clearence under the differencial, uses stock drive lines, weigh the same as Dana 60s......

Steve at drivetrain engineering did an amazing job building the Humm 9 axles

There is a Fj40 with the 2nd set of Humm 9s from Steve

Ken
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That is a work of art ken. Thanks for the pic. That is exactly what i'm talking about. Looks like a few steering linkage issues to deal with. Did you ever finish the build-up for the 80 you were planning on taking to moab with portals? Or is that it?


Russ, could you give us a ballpark range of $$ figures for the cost of a set of custom portal axles?

Alex
 
concretejungle said:
Russ, could you give us a ballpark range of $$ figures for the cost of a set of custom portal axles?

Alex
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Considering a simple dynatrac 60 costs like $6k, I'd imagine the portals are $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ probably a few too many $$$$$$$$'s for your unemployed butt :flipoff2: :D
 
Arya Ebrahimi said:
probably a few too many $$$$$$$$'s for your unemployed butt :flipoff2: :D
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Thanks for the reassurance and reality check there bud. :flipoff2: Hopefully times are a changin'............but you can dream and think can't you?
 
$14K....Damn...
Initial estimates of our 2nd generation setup....Ford 9" centers, custom lengths, Portal-Tek portal ends, brakes and all....from what we have been discussing....starting around $7000 for a SET. They will be brutally tested, and bomb proof. No sense in us designing something that is going to be busting all over the place, and it will use common shelf parts that if for some reason, something does go bad, you can get parts from us, or other places.
This is just initial estimates mind you, but that is the price point we are shooting for. $14K for a set of axles, as kick ass as they may be, seems to be only a viable solution for someone with big, deep pockets. I am sure they are worth the money, but that is a lot of cashola....

More updates to come.
 
Stumper said:
$14K....Damn...
Initial estimates of our 2nd generation setup....Ford 9" centers, custom lengths, Portal-Tek portal ends, brakes and all....from what we have been discussing....starting around $7000 for a SET. They will be brutally tested, and bomb proof. No sense in us designing something that is going to be busting all over the place, and it will use common shelf parts that if for some reason, something does go bad, you can get parts from us, or other places.
This is just initial estimates mind you, but that is the price point we are shooting for. $14K for a set of axles, as kick ass as they may be, seems to be only a viable solution for someone with big, deep pockets. I am sure they are worth the money, but that is a lot of cashola....

More updates to come.
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When Avalanche Engineering developed their High Mark axles, those ran 10,000 PER AXLE...

$14,000 from SUnray isn't bad, comparitivly speaking.

$7,000 for a set of axles is pretty AWESOME...
 
Stumper said:
$14K....Damn...
Initial estimates of our 2nd generation setup....Ford 9" centers, custom lengths, Portal-Tek portal ends, brakes and all....from what we have been discussing....starting around $7000 for a SET. They will be brutally tested, and bomb proof. No sense in us designing something that is going to be busting all over the place, and it will use common shelf parts that if for some reason, something does go bad, you can get parts from us, or other places.
This is just initial estimates mind you, but that is the price point we are shooting for. $14K for a set of axles, as kick ass as they may be, seems to be only a viable solution for someone with big, deep pockets. I am sure they are worth the money, but that is a lot of cashola....

More updates to come.
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That's exactly what i'm talkin' about!!! That's kinda what i was thinking from a few posts i have read with your discussion in them. Thanks. That makes it a possibility for some. Not me now, but perhaps sometime.
 
Damn,

That's a boat load of unsprung weight...at least from the pics.

Curious, do you still retain your hwy cruising speed with these things? I know hummers can run at a good clip but will the hybrids be able to do the same?
 
Tigerstripe40 said:
When Avalanche Engineering developed their High Mark axles, those ran 10,000 PER AXLE...

$14,000 from SUnray isn't bad, comparitivly speaking.

$7,000 for a set of axles is pretty AWESOME...
Click to expand...

I have to add that was not a firm quote, just a ball park with 35 spline Ford 9's with ARB's etc etc.

As for lower gearing, that is why the 9 is a easy choice since you get it with 2.x and then plus portals you can get 4.x / 5.x ratios.
 
Very cool ideas, however when do you expect the portal design to 'save you'? I'm just playing devil's advocate here, but in my experience offroad, rarely is the diff the main problem, usually high-centered, approach/departure angles, etc. Ofcourse there are times the diff could be the problem, and this would help that, but most people I know just bash the rock harder until the housing slides over it.

The engineering and design on those axles is awesome, but in a practial sense, I don't know when it would be beneficial. Also if you're trying to keep the center-of-gravity lower, then that is exactly what you don't want to do. I the overall lift is say 5", then the best thing for COG is to keep the axle down there with the tires, not raise it up some.

Just my $0.00 worth...
 
alia176 said:
Damn,

That's a boat load of unsprung weight...at least from the pics.

Curious, do you still retain your hwy cruising speed with these things? I know hummers can run at a good clip but will the hybrids be able to do the same?
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Not really interested in highway speed. I want to take the ShortBus up another notch. I need the under belly clearance. Portals is the only way to get that, unless I go with 49" tires and I am pretty sure the stock 80 axles will not like that much.
 
Well typically the portal gearing is a 2 to 1 reduction.

That means that you're ring and pinions should be VERY high, so your overall gearing isnt to low for road work.

Example:

In a ford 9" you can get gears as HIGH as 2.70s.

So:

60mph x 2.70 x 2.00 x .80 x 336 / 37 + RPM 2353 at 60 mph

Still a respectable highway speed with 37 " tires.

You have to factor in the 2.00 portal gear reduction.
 
sleeoffroad said:
Sunray Engineering wants around $14k for front and rear hybrid portals using unimog outers and Ford 9 centers.
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some say that c303's will take 40's, but 37's are the norm.
 
I guess since you are using portals it shouldn't be a problem at all, but just trying to maximize your expenditure..... you know the ford 9inch has a low hanging 3rd member.
 
Junk said:
I still think that long term its the way to go - you get the clearance without raising the center of gravity as much etc.
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Junkster, I have to disagree with you on this statement. If you add two inches of lift from springs and four inches of lift from the portals, you're still raising the truck (in your case the beater) a total of six inches. Plus you've moved the weight of the axles up four inches higher than with a regular lift. So, at a given total lift height the COG is is slightly higher with portals than with the stock axle setup.

That said, I think portals are awesome, but it has nothing to do with COG. The beauty of portals is the added clearance under the akle housing and diffs.

:beer:

Curran
 
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