possible alternatvie source for Volvo portals (1 Viewer)

[35inchoverdrive]

Our city uses small front loaders to pick up large amounts of roadside trash. Most of the are Cats, or New Hollands, ect... but I took notice of one the other day that looked considerably more narrow and a little taller than all the others. It was a Volvo, and the thing had portals under it! The model is an L30B, but I'm not sure what year, and nor do I have any other specifics about it. I was really dissapointed to note that the front does not have any steering capabilities, but rather the center of the rig is hinged and that's how it steers. However, could this be a possible source for rear Volvo portals, or maybe just for the portal boxes for those skilled enough to be able to adapt them onto other axles? Does anybody know if they are the same or similar to the hardware under the C303?

 

[MSGGrunt]

A lot of tractors, my Kubota included, use portal axles. I'm sure they could be used for slow speed off-roading, but not sure how they would be on the road at speed as they were never designed for this. I remember seeing somewhere that they use tractor portals on competition vehicles overseas. I also think that the gearing design at the hubs is different on tractor axles than on a portal designed for a vehicle. I believe the design on tractors uses bevel gears.

 

[35inchoverdrive]

My thinking was that since Volvo also used the portals in the C303(something that is capable of driving on the road) that they wouldn't bother designing a different portal for this front loader. The width has to be pretty similar at least(judging by how much more narrow the Volvo loaders are than all the others running around the city). That is a good point about the other manufactures using portals in more common applications though. I guess I'll have to try to get under one of these loaders and get a number or at least some measurements off of one of these axels. I can't wait to flag down an operator and try to explain this...