CHEAPEST Off Road Portal Axle to Most Expensive! 74 weld, Werewolf, Hummer portal, Unimog portal.

[@DirtLifestyle]

I've been told I haven't done a deep dive in a while... let's do this 😁. Today, I want to share info on the 8 most popular portal swaps I could find! If you see anything that I got wrong or another option I didn't mention, make sure to comment to help the community. Thanks for watching

[@harrywalker968]

here in aus.. which is NOT part of the rest of the known world.. there selling portals. they have a stabalising bar, as others do, which to me, is a design fault, for rocks, branches. plus. we cant run 42'' tires on the road let alone being 10'' wider.. patriot campers, i think fit, sell these.. fitted to toyotas, 79 series, with cough 35.s, its a recipie for roll overs. as they carry sht loads of gear. the cost to engineer, gvm upgrade, is not worth the time money, pose value..5k plus.. id be more inclined to buy a unimog. be done with it.. sold here for around 10k.. ex army , some good some bad.. i have a ford h/bouy. 75. 5 sp. 4 w disc. cut to swb, with h/pin h/d d44 locker, rear d60 lsd.. 35,s.. 26'' to the sill..

[@larryboy8821]

You forgot the 74weld two gear portal.

[@JacobSingleton01]

Hey Nate! Hummer portal Boxes are 3.875 input centerline to output centerline "drop". CTIS was primarily an H1 civilian option, it was problematic and as far as I understand was rarely issue in the military, or at least was not standard. The box you have IS a CTIS (air line guard and drilled hole for air input in the spindle cover) 12k portals were straight cut gears too but had 32 spline 1.375" input shaft (you made the same confusion I always do, ford 9" are 31 spline, hummers are 27 or 32 on the input). Input gears from the 12k can be swapped into the 10k boxes and WILL work with the 10k output gear (lower gear). The greatest difference between the 10k and 12k boxes are the spline count and diameter of the input shaft. Both gears are 2.6" pitch diameter (3.095 OD) 13tooth 25deg pressure angle. The Helical gears were exclusively a H1 civilian option, done to reduce geartrain noise and "slop" when coming to a stop due to the inboard brakes and backlash in the gearbox causing excess motion. the Helical gears are a little rare but can be found. The helical gears do produce axial thrust loads in the gear set that causes more wear. The helical gears require swapping both upper and lower gears for obvious reasons. The Helical gears also have the larger 31 spline input. *edit to correct spline count reference. I will send you some more info on your Patreon.

[@HarryKuloh]

​The 74 weld package and all of it's basically mandatory. Associated components, requires four mortgages. Disregard the voice to text grammatical issues ​@@larryboy8821

[@LukeEdward]

Appreciated, Nate.

[@brenden4968]

With great portals comes great responsibility

[@DirtLifestyle]

lol. This need to be on a mug.

[@TJY2K]

​@@DirtLifestylemake it a mug and sell it as merch

Thanks for including our portals in your video! Tech info: Our portals are HMMWV based, and many of the parts are interchangeable. Service interval for a HMMWV portal recommends changing the oil at 72k miles. The parts and bearings are designed to handle massive loads and last for the life of the vehicle.

[@74weld]

Cool to see this start to trickle out. A few comments I’ll make Not totally sure about the lift height of the H1 stuff but I believe it is under 4” Unimog is a hair under 4.25 Lift is determined by center of top gear to center of bottom gear on a solid axle On a IFS the lift achieved is optional…CV lift is what is guaranteed, but you don’t necessarily gain lift from the portal. That’s all dependent on where your arms attach Our bearing pack is based off a 99-04 F350 but since we do a couple things to it like a custom wheel pattern as well as integrate magnetic encoders for OEM ABS sensors it has to be a custom pack. We typically keep at least a couple hundred in stock. Every portal you showed runs 2 bearings to support the lower stub shaft. We use 3 bearings for a lot more strength. If you get any deflection there you will destroy the gears. That is the main failure on the unimog and the H1. People think when the gears break it’s because the gears are not strong enough. This is not correct in most scenarios…it’s due to deflection of the lower stub or spindle which comes as a result of a sub par bearing package. I could keep going but you touched on a lot of stuff and gave a good intro so I’ll save that for another day

[@JacobSingleton01]

Great info on the H1 weakness. Within the limits of cooling, do you know if you can run the lower taper bearings with a greater preload to reduce deflection under load, or is it a case weakness? you are right on the H1, center to center is 3.875 inch. Bravo on the 74 weld design, it is abundantly clear to me that your team pulled all the stops and offers by far the best value for aftermarket portals, there just isn't anything else even close.

[@adiemitchell]

Do you think Nate is right to replace his portal oil after every water crossing? I can't imagine the military is doing that on their Humvee portals, or the Volvo folks on their trucks. If that were needed, portals would be a total no-go.

[@nothingtoseaheardammit]

@@adiemitchell Yes he is 100% right to do so. Seals are meant to keep oil in, not water out. The military doesn't GAF about long term reliability, just the next mission. They don't try to maintain engines in the HMMWV's which is why they don't have a single motor that has made it to 100,000 miles in the whole HMMWV fleet. They just replace them. Do not take military SOP with regards to vehicle maintenance as gospel when it comes to the HMMWV/H1.

[@nothingtoseaheardammit]

@@JacobSingleton01 "Alot of failures" in the H1 geared hubs (we don't call them portals) is pretty rich. The only failures related to the geared hubs is the spindle nut not being properly re-installed and the wheel flying off (usually at speed). ModMafia sells a locking spindle nut which completely resolves this issue. The other issue is leaks, however using Lucas Hub Oil in the geared hubs usually resolves this issue - and replacing the input seal is about a 15 minute job once you get the halfshaft out. The serious H1 offroad guys are running 10,000lbs curb weight rigs on 42's with the 12k half shafts and driveline. The hubs don't give up. The halfshafts die first everytime. Then stub shafts and diffs and driveshafts. The geared hubs are remarkably resilient.

[@74weld]

@@adiemitchell no. I have run lots of water and I don’t change oil until I hit 5,000 miles. As long as your vent lines are out of the water you are good to go. Once the vehicle is dry if you see an oil leak for any reason then yes change it but I don’t see a need to change oil just because you ran water

[@davisclevenger6761]

This is becoming a more informative version of extreme 4x4 and what a lot of of us probably wished it was back in the day.

[@MidgetPunter]

Not enough time in the slot for extreme 4x4 to go this in depth for so many different portals. Plus most people that watch TV they would've changed the channel when all of this info was being given.

[@adventurefriendsgo]

25:33 this is such a great point that I don’t see super often. Having the budget to afford rad bolt ons is awesome but just keep in mind the complexity you’re adding to your rig especially if you’re planning to get waaaaay out where no one is going to be able to help you. Built not bought may be more time consuming but when the chips are down and you need to limp something home the knowledge you’ll have from wrenching is priceless.

[@lanedexter6303]

Everything breaks down eventually. Finally, someone who GETS IT. I retired from 45 years operating hydroelectric powerhouses. Butted heads with Engineers over this countless times. I’m old, so when I think portals, I think VW microbus, Farmall Cub tractor, and Unimog. Thanks for a fascinating video.

[@TinkerersAdventure]

Super helpful!!! I have been tempting to remove my +3.5” long travel with 35s on my FJ and put portals and 38s. But it feels like all the maintenance I would save by going back to stock suspension will be offset by the maintenance on portals. Maybe even a net increase? I look forward to your installation and long term feedback! BTW, what wheels are you going to run? The +45mm offset forged beadgrip is crazy money. All the new Toyotas factory wheels are around 60-50mm offset. I hope method will start making higher offset bead grips for the masses

[@DirtLifestyle]

Portals are great on rocks and snow, but most people don't do enough of either to justify the associated cons imo. But if you want 38s, these will definitely help ease that install. Better cv angles, less stress on your drivertrain and no need to re-gear 🤷‍♂️. Plus, an FJ on portals is pretty bad ass 😎

[@gregtennyson]

Running portals with stock suspension will put a lot of stress on your lower ball joints

[@landcruiserscotland]

Can't wait for a Tinkerers portal video 😎

[@danedellarossa5124]

Hey Nate. The Volvo C303 was the 4x4 version of the military truck; the 304 and 306 were 6x6 of same truck. I have 303 axles under my 80 series. They were bought from a guy in Grand Junction, CO who used to import them. I've only seen a couple sets for sale in last 10 years. Last year there was an actual factory C303 that sold on BringATrailer and he got a couple sets of spare axles as well. I have 39" tires with stock springs and trimmed fenders. I love them. Getting parts is difficult, a couple companies overseas sell replacement items. There are guys who still use them for racing. If you've seen the Malaysian Jungle races, a lot of those guys have Volvo portals on their suzukis and jeeps. I'm not sure of the strength. I use my cruiser to haul our family of 6 around the trails. I rock crawl, but I don't beat on it because I don't want to break and have to wait months for replacement parts to come from overseas. I also drive it on the road and it'll still go 70 and get 14mpg and I haven't seen the portal boxes heat up like some people claim. Cheers bro. You are still doing what no one else is doing. God Bless - See Ya On The Next One!

[@danedellarossa5124]

I liked your closing comments about leverage. I have a front 3 link and tore the upper arm off the frame last year doing a bunch of downhill ledges. Now the upper mount has a ballistic joint and the frame was plated and a thicker mount was welded on top.

[@DirtLifestyle]

Thank sound like a sweet project!!! And I'm thinking about beefing up the 3 link on my Tacoma for the same reason. So much extra leverage...

[@MJAVXC]

Dude! I’d love to see your rig!

[@tracykooken2606]

Agree, when I lived in the European theater the Volvo boxes was " a military " upgrade and some of the Volvo diesel trucks used in timber farms and ' delivery ' trucks in artic rigs run these. !!! The thing i never heard of in USA was these portals was plumbed with lines that borrow engine heat to keep the portals warm and keeps moisture OUT of the box's ( condensation ) and vented up high. The Russian and Northern European union has " bogs " in many areas and the mud n water / mix gets GROUND into every moving part !!!! Everything is diesel of course. So the torque going into these Commercial trucks is very high!! But Serbs, Ruskies. Also( soviet transport 's )and other friends of friends r very proud of their rigs and r VERY GOOD DRIVERS IN THE sticky goo !!! No complaints about Volvo portals. Here in the us portal " boxes " r used alot. But ' eastern ' friends prefer portal axles. Boxes r said to greatly increase stresses on joints as it ALSO increases axle width plus the weight of ' big ' tires. I'm told that is not the case for the portal axle. Thus making it a stronger component. I wouldn't know as I don't know anyone from the " east " that builds off road trucks for fun personally. But bogging is alive and well outside of the USA !!!! Custom built rigs w AMG diesels is alive !!! And turning AMG4door rigs into 6x6 is well known for its looks and the " aristocrats " ( yuppie. Kids w rich silver spoons....oil,energy.

[@tracykooken2606]

Here's a bit of fun fact for the need minded folks; Monroe Robert Grier invented the portal axle in 1905, but it wasn't used until the early 1940s. The potential of portal axles wasn't fully realized until after World War II, when Volkswagen used reduction boxes in its first-generation vehicles. 😊

[@Persiantramp]

I'm a mechanical engineer and i have a few comments, First: Sleep easy , there's never going to be a proprietary bearing on an automotive application! If you open up that 74 weld bearing I bet there's an off the shelve bearing in it! But of course it may not be servicable. Second: The three gear portals "Can't" be as strong as the 4 gears is definitely not the case, both cases can be designed to perform exactly the same and the choice of using 3 or 4 basically comes to packaging and other constraints that influence the engineering of the portals

[@woznaldo]

I would just add that the 4 gear means all gears see half the load of the same ratio 3 gear setup due to sharing it between two mesh points. The casing may not get that same advantage.

[@gordowg1wg145]

You can interchange the terms "proprietary" and "unique to a specific make/model" - while MOST will be fairly common, especially if a, say, component is supplied from an outside manufacturer to several vehicle manufacturers, eg, DANA axle parts, some are "one-of", like the Getrag F28 gearbox which has a bearing that is unique and impossible to find new. I expect there are MANY other examples.

[@dwong506]

Love these explainers and your humbleness on what you know/your opinions. From a mechanical engineer with an automotive specialization: you know more than plenty of the people I went to school with, no doubt. Also shoutout to The Gear Shop, they are my go to local shop, love those guys!

[@DirtLifestyle]

Thank you! What a big compliment coming from someone with your background. Thanks for watching, brother 👊

[@brianward3944]

Never gonna need or even want portals. However the older I get the more I enjoy learning about such things. I really appreciate your research and informative delivery. Thanks Nate!

[@95dodgev10]

Same here. I'll almost certainly never buy a set between need and cost. I wont even buy portals for my side by side which are quite a bit cheaper. But neat to see what's out there.

[@DaddyBusAdventures]

Agree, probably will never need or want portals but it's cool to know what applications are out there an proven to work. I'd trust old military engineering over something from Malaysia.

[@DirtLifestyle]

Glad to hear it! Thank you for watching, I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the video 👍

[@PaavoLeinonen]

Been using Volvo portals in my Range Rover for 20 years. Had 5.99 (incl 2.06 hub gearing) axles from C303 in the beginning, and driving 80km/h on roads was not a problem, drove to events in Raajärvi from Oulu (300km one way) with Q78-16 TSLs. Then changed to 7.55 (incl 2.06 hub gearing) differentials, and decent road speed would require very high RPM with 38½ boggers, that I use a trailer or a truck to transport the Range Rover to events. Disc brakes (original drum brakes suck) from Toyota HJ60, original vacuum operated diff locks work very well. All in all the Volvo portals are great axle, super strong up to 40" tyres (at least) and weight is not insane. Original Range Rover axle gearing is 3.54, so I have now very good gearing for going slow. Top speed something like 105-110km/h (with 38½ boggers), but most of the roads driving is no more than 50km/day, and decent cruising speed is about 60km/h. The rest of the Range Rover is about "stock", engine and gearboxes from -97 Discovery, MS3Pro ecu, and winches front&rear etc., beaten body that looks it's been used a lot, like it is.

[@samuraisuzuki210]

We run 37” and 42” tires on our 1k Polaris Rzrs. The portals (30% and 45% gear reduction) was the secret sauce to restoring power and resolving any driveline issues! Bolt on lift and gears.🙌🏽. I love your car guy math! Save 4k on gears so the portals are really only 11k at that point!😂. The only issues we run into with the portals is the increase in width on tight trails.

[@Lukaslevanen1435]

I love these kinds of videos from you. The type that got me to you chanel in the first place like 2-3 years ago.

[@DirtLifestyle]

Thanks dude! I miss doing deep dives. Are there any other topics you would like me to dive into?

[@Lukaslevanen1435]

Also looking forward to the Tacoma video of you fixing it and doing the portals!!

[@Lukaslevanen1435]

@@DirtLifestyle I would love a video more in depth on how you use onX or different apps for picking out routes or trails or even camp spots. They have done a lot of updates on it and I’m sure there are videos of it out there but you breakdown things really well. Also maybe in that video breakdown radios you and your group use and what works for you would be cool too.

[@kevinparsons346]

You're going to love them, Nate. I got a set from Quinn last July for my daily Gladiator. Have put on 30k miles with nothing but oil changes. A couple of months ago, I left N Texas and drove to the Holy Cross Trail in Colorado, ran that and then drove to Moab for the Cliffhanger trail. Left there and drove straight thru back to Texas. They are as trouble-free as they can be. Admittedly I am a conservative driver, but my fuel mileage stays around 16. I have zero complaints, and would buy from Quinn again in a heartbeat.

[@mikejensen-fogt4662]

As a machinist i had the pleasure of working with some engineers who taught me alot about bolts and the strength of them. It will change a little bit from one grade of material to the next but, as a general rule of thumb, if your using a bolt in steel, you want 1 times the diameter of the bolt for thread engagement. So if you have a ½-13 bolt, you want ½ and inch of threads in the part. For aluminum, you want 1.5 times ratio. So for a ½" bolt, it would be ¾" deep. These are rules of thumb but it gets you pretty close. Any more than the 1x for steel and 1.5x for aluminum is excessive and the bolt itself will fail before pulling the threads out of the material. Look at the thickness of nuts that go with bolts, they are around the same height as the diameter of the bolt they go with. Putting a big coupling nut on something wont increase the pullout strength of the bolt threads. Love the videos nate, keep up the awesome work man! 🤟

[@74weld]

Finally someone who understands this stuff!!! 1.5xD on aluminum…anything over 2xD is pointless and adds absolutely nothing other than pissed off machinists that are forced to tap deep holes in parts and risk breaking taps so a clueless engineer can feel warm and fuzzy 😜

[@mikejensen-fogt4662]

@@74weld Finally, someone who understands the frustrations of being a machinist! 😆🙈😅

[@Mister510]

I imported Unimogs in the '90s and have done extensive major mechanical repairs on most Unimog models. All CTIS systems are over complicated and extremely prone to failure, usually at the worst possible time. At the new owner's request we removed the CTIS systems from most of the big Mogs imported. If you run CTIS on a recreational wheeler you'll spend endless hours chasing leaks for the rest of your life, or at least until you get smart and throw it away.

[@randyingram1918]

I love the ending where you say you have to fix your junk to get it off the trail !

[@yOURCHRIST]

You're the man. And thank you. I'll never use anything like this but I believe you're correct when you say the average mechanic wouldn't even know what these are. Just love your research and education videos and then learn even more from your comments section.

[@Trd_rican]

Finally the video we have all been waiting for

[@DirtLifestyle]

It feels good to finally have it done. Hopefully, this information can help send you down the right path 👊. Thanks for watching man

[@brenttblair8768]

FINALLY! Nate, this is the sort of video that has made me a follower since the Bleepin days. KEEP IT UP!

[@Jan-pw4po]

Great information Nate, 40 odd years ago i was running VW bus reduction gearboxes on my off road VW

[@MW-jg8gw]

Vw are probably one of the first car to run portals, even their 2wd bugs and vans has portal

[@williamh6547]

Always great straight forward no bullshyt advice 😎👍 this is why we watch your channel, your not giving bad advice just to push people into buying what they don't need. Great video

[@nothingtoseaheardammit]

Changing the oil in the H1/HMMWV geared hub is super easy. Hardest part is actually taking off the 140lbs tire. Pro tip: Use Lucas Hub oil to keep the input/output seals from leaking.

[@hummervs3278]

Add that there are both helical cut and straight cut gears for the 12k units. The straight cut are stronger than the helical. The 10k units are only straight cut. ALL of them should get the BlueHummer locknut (stage 8 fasteners) cheap insurance for devastating damage.

[@clemensschimmele6346]

Sweet video as always, thank you! With Unimog 416 portals you actually have a number of gearing options, the differences in overall gearing were all achieved with combinations of different diffs and different portals (transmissions are all the same). The gearing differences can actually be pretty significant, the difference in top speed between the highest and the lowest is like 40 kph on a 416. On the 404, there are two different portal gearing options, but they're almost the same, hardly makes a difference. You can fit portal gears from an earlier generation (411/2010) to get 10% faster overall. 404 axles look kinda like Dana 60s beef wise, but the gears in the portals reduce stress and effectively make the axles significantly stronger. The torque tube design is actually awesome btw, it's just really ard to adapt to any non-mog application. It has been done, though (there's an article on Pirate 4x4 I think). I'm kinda waiting for someone to come up with a kit for that.

[@99unclebob]

Great video Nate, simply, clear and the best you offered with all your time and research gone into this video, plus edit time is another chunk, plus with this video I think you may have sold a few units for a few companies you mentioned, over 40 years ago I built portal style axles for farm equipment company and got the opportunity to low snow in a 4 acre parking lot with one and it was a blast and they were a bi directional tractor, hydro static drive, 14 ft articulated plow on it and this was pushing almost 2 feet of snow and it was no problem for it and maintenance on portals, the routine stuff like oils and making sure your breathers are intact and no ingress from moisture or dirt is easy it took an extra maybe 40 minutes when doing an oil change, this m these were cat iron portal boxes and we never used any thread locker at first and found out they'd loosen slightly, so immediately we used upgraded hardware, some of the first red lock tite before the public was familiar with it and that took care of that issue ,I still see quite a few in service with farmers over 40 yrs later

[@DirtLifestyle]

That's awesome to hear your experience with portals! You guys were way ahead of the curve with farm equipment 👍. Military equipment as well. In regard to Lock Tite, I think I'm going to ask 74 weld about this. Some torque spec info and red Lock Tite would probably be a good way to get ahead of any potential long-term problems. Thanks for the comment!

[@PNW_Rodeo]

I dont know enough about portals, so this is great info for a noob like me. I've reached out to a couple of companies about making portals for the Rodeo. That would push this build to a not so cheap one...which isnt a bad thing. Great info, Nate!

[@DirtLifestyle]

That might be the first rodeo on portals lol. I'd watch that build 😁

[@freeidaho-videos]

I've been excited about portals since I first heard of them, and enjoyed your video. There is lots to love about the Sami, and one of the big ones is the portal axles. Good video. The very best part of your talk was the personal responsibility part. I follow a few XJ and Idaho off-roading forums, and so few people take any responsibility at all. They won't even use google first. Good talk. It should be its own video for off-roading.

[@Pappawheely-4x4]

Love your communication skills and humility Nate. That was informative and also entertaining.

[@DirtLifestyle]

Thank you! I really appreciate the kind words 🙏

[@rvarsigfusson6163]

At 7:30 Volvo 303.... there is/was a company in USA making parts for this Volvo portals. The Unimog 404 is an old petrol engine 70-80 hP and stop production in 1967. The 416 is a diesel engine 130 -170 hP and did start production in 1967.

[@a1racer441]

I like portals I don’t want maintenance so I went with dynatrac axles. I understand everything needs occasional maintenance but normal axles require a lot less. The hummer portals are interesting though price is cheap and with a few upgrades plus parts are easy enough to get not a bad setup.

[@roycehartman325]

Great info is much appreciated! It's not necessarily an easy task weeding through all of the varying info found on the internet especially when comparing different products! So thank you for the time you dedicated to this topic! For the avg Joe who isn't building a dedicated crawler/offroad rig, who has the bucks and drops their vehicle off at a shop for upgrades in my opinion should stick with 74weld or similar and should stay away from anything fab related. If you are the type who does their own fab and vehicle build the choice is up to you. 74weld for example keeps it simple is basically turnkey and won't leave you scratching your head trying to figure everything out.

[@ChrisLoomisDirtFlix]

great video thanks i spoke with the owner at 74Weld and he also told me they're warrantied for life which i thought was great

[@kevinkc3onohelijeepworld953]

Long time subscriber here Thank you for sharing you info with us non portal crowd. Would love to see a short vid of how the insides work 😊have sum auto trans knowledge and understand planetary gears but don’t know the insides of the portal. Been inside tcase n diffs n manual boxes. Thank you Nate

[@michaeldye4318]

Thank you. The pros and cons really help. You might note the dramatic difference in the thickness of the units. Narrow ones will give less of some impacts - like scrub radius and leverage on ball joints etc, but may have their own trade-offs. There are very good reasons that the world’s vehicle manufacturers only use these on specialty off-road vehicles, and most have speed restrictions if used on road.

[@mudsta9828]

Awesome video. I’ve ran portals for years on several sxs and this is how I determine what reduction % I need for the size tires I want to run. (Stock tire)28 x .45 (gear reduction) = 12.6 28 + 12.6 = 40.6 (new tire size) 40.6 would be the tire size you can run with 45% reduction and the machine will drive close to stock.

[@MrDudlyDoright]

Excellent video as usual, Killer dive into all the info you gave out freely! I looked into Portals a couple of times your Video Nails it! You included info I hadn't even thought of.

[@Go4BrokeOffroad]

Been using my hummer portals since 2003. 9inch diff. Works great.

[@psalm11823]

Nate, another 'con' to add (regarding cost) is the typical additional mods that you end up needing to do after adding portals, i.e., Beefier steering rack, wheels, tires, BBK and install costs. If adding 74 weld portals, it takes $20K to near $36K quickly. But one heck of a build tho!

[@davecamilleri9411]

Very informative! I didn't realize that the two gear portals make the axles turn the opposite direction. In my case on my TJ with Currie High Pinion 8.8 diffs, I could just swap the gears from reverse rotation to standard rotation. My concern with portals would be making sure the axle tube strength is enough to handle the added leverage of the portal plus the larger tires. Most axle tubes would be easy to bend in my opinion if they weren't beefed up. The IFS of say the hummer set up doesn't have that issue.

[@DerekGarner-km4fj]

Fantastic video, Nate! You may not be an engineer, but you have more common-sense and real-world understanding and knowledge than most of the engineers that I know. Definitely looking forward to your future portal-build and feedback. I may be a little bit crazy (or maybe a lot), but I am probably going to have to find out first-hand how silly it is to run portals on an LS-swapped Porsche 911 Carrera-4 and a Cayenne S...

[@DirtLifestyle]

Bro.... I think we have the same sickness because my ears perked up reading the words ls swapped cayenne with portals 😀

[@DerekGarner-km4fj]

@@DirtLifestyle , I've heard someone in Panama is already building one, but haven't seen it yet. The Cayenne actually has a pretty stout v-8 to begin with, and I would probably run with it first. But the Carrera4 I'm thinking of already has the LS-swap, and just needs a bit more height than a Safari conversion would provide. Something along the lines of Emre Husmen's ridiculously cool 911X concept. I wouldn't rock-crawl with it, but would appreciate the extra ground-clearance and bigger tires for desert-running and fire-roads.

[@iaahner]

Your point about needing serious know-how to live with these in the middle of nowhere is great. The other half of that discussion is that even if you DO know exactly what you're doing, you probably can't get parts in the middle of nowhere. Even simple things. Tie rod end for a HMMWV portal in Moab? Be prepared to go to both the OReilley AND the Carquest next door, get half of what you need from each, and weld it in the parking lot to get that beached HMMWV off of hell's revenge. Ask me how I know..... :D

[@klausklautgern4870]

Did the quick math. The jump from 30 to 37inch tires will increase the circumference of the tire by roughly 25%.

[@shanesmith831]

Thank you for sharing this info. I was planning on getting some for my jk, but now don't want to mess with them. Again thanks for your honesty.

[@Adrian-rn1ym]

Thanks for this video Nate , awesome information. Definitely solidified my choice of going with aftermarket axles on my jt . For the same price I can get a 60/80 fully built as the 74 weld portals ( cad )

[@swbpajlife]

This is why I love your channel, I learn so much, to the point where, my next project will be a 3 link front, 4 link rear swb pajero with Dana front diff.

[@mattb.2359]

Really good video on portals. As far as they all seem to go, also depends on you case fastener of choice. Alan head bolts tend to get full of gunk, then you can't get you tool down all the way to the bottom, then you round the inside out, and then your boned. Espically on the 74 weld, where it looks like you can't even get a set of vice grips on the head of the bolts to get them out. And steel bolts in aluminum will lead to corrosion. So pretty much even before you put these on, put a decent amount of anti seize on the bolts so they have a hope in hell of coming out if they ever need to be serviced.

[@rupertgumban9251]

Awesome video Nate, can’t wait to see your Tacoma with portals

[@DirtLifestyle]

You and me both!

[@bernelnery2191]

Finally the video I have been waiting for a long time. Why is it that the Defender L663 does not have portal options around the world? It would really be much easier than trying to do all the body lift etc

[@alexkaa6351]

So much useful info. Thanks. I would love to see a compassion video for crate axles for JL/JT. There are so many of them now available and not clear what are the main differences.

[@waynesbsf9532]

Thanks for the honest review . You brought up some things I never thought of. My trails here in south central Alaska are mostly deep mud and water crossings.

[@bobjackson7516]

Great video man!!! Couple things, one statement, one question: - I've worked in the auto repair industry for 35 years, and not a single tech I've work with would be willing to even entertain the idea of working on portals. So Nate, you're spot on with that one.... "You're on your own". As sad as I am to say that. - It seems like a good idea that all steering and suspension bushings should be poly instead of rubber due to the added force/stress? Is that a correct statement? Rock on man. Love the content!

[@terencecampbell8363]

As an Alaskan I can tell you, you can find someone to work on anything in Alaska. Now it will likely require some travel, but AK is full of 'good ol boys'.

[@ratfarmers]

Dang now I want portals on all of my vehicles! Great job explaining the differences between each one!

[@snakeskinproductions7500]

Great video. Answered a lot of questions for me. Don't think I'm going the portal route. Just doesn't make sense for what I want to do. I also want to say, What you said about most mechanics not knowing about portals is very true. I am a retired 50+ year ASE certed. mechanic That has worked on most things with wheels and an engine and up until you turned me on to Unimog I had no clue. Anyway thanks for all the great content and maybe I will see you on the trail...🤓

[@anthonymccrary913]

Great video and very informative. While I don’t think I’ll ever get myself into the portal scene as the price is more than both my Jeeps combined, it’s awesome to see these side by side comparisons and understand how they work. Looking forward to seeing some more snow wheeling videos now that the build challenge is over! Also the Arctic Rover in my opinion is perfection!!!🤟🤟

[@DirtLifestyle]

Thanks dude! Yeah, these aren't the right upgrade for most people's projects but are a sweet addition in the right application. I just got back from a deep snow trip, and I already can't wait to go back out! Yeti is too much fun

[@CliffAntone]

The Hummer H1 Service Manual states that you should change your geared hub oil every 12,000miles or whenever it is contaminated. Also a big reason for the Hummer/HMMWV portal failures is due to improper torquing of the spindle nut. BlueHummer came out with a locking spindle nut to help combat this which is now available from ModMafia.

[@MacsSpecialitiesMotorsports]

Informational Overload! Well done, I'll probably never have the cash to buy Portals but good info never less!

[@nothingtoseaheardammit]

Nate you're 100% correct about CTIS being the best thing in the world.

[@nugsmen9060]

thank you. i have almost no interest in putting portals on. but man they are cool. just hearing the info was a good watch.

[@Just_another_jeep_tj]

Your a bundle of knowledge my guy love hearing your two cents 🤙

[@williamherring5441]

Best breakdown of portals since Phineas and Ferb went to Mars.

[@shemetenko]

Hi, I'm watching you for quite a long time from Ukraine, and just now from your video i've discovered that there is a company in Ukraine that produces portals. Wow, thanks for such a useful video!

[@crabbitk]

I have one of the first 10 sets of 74Weld portals on my Tacoma. I love them... you will be happy with your decision. I pull a trailer i crawl i drive long distances .. its my daily that i do everything with. But i want to see you abuse them lol... Give em hell... i cant find a weak spot maybe you can.....

[@pyrostwistedride4821]

Great video! I have always considered portals as an option. The only issue I have with portals is the added width and the tight trails I get on.

[@kpeeks]

Informative. The sub 5k pricing isn't bad for the majority of the off-road community. The higher cost ones are the 1% or race team only.

[@74weld]

Nothing on that list is used by race teams. To put things in perspective all of the race portals are made either by us or Mason Motorsports. Race portals will cost close to 20K per corner for ours. I believe the Mason ones are even more money.

[@nightnola]

Great video Nate! I'm still new to wrenching on my JK, and have no plans of adding portals. Nonetheless, I watched the whole video and enjoyed it!. Thank you for the great research, very well delivered.

[@roberthand5777]

Thank you Thank you Thank you I have been considering portals for my dream rig. (2024 Ford Bronco Badlands 2 door I picked up 11-21-2024) I was willing to drop $20ish K to see my dream a reality. Now, I am realizing portals may get the job done but at what cost to me physically? I want to drive to, wheel on, and drive from on 1 Vehicle. I want to be meticulous about maintenance in hope of keeping my 99% of my wrenching at home. Knowing that is unrealistic means I have no choice but keep my build as of the shelf and bullet proof as possible. Thanks to you and your realistic information I'm changing focus. I'm owning my limitations now and in the future to a long travel set up. The possible physical responsibility portals demand would most likely take the fun out of the dream. I'm willing to commit and be responsible but I'm 53, a disabled vet with injuries that are taking my fine motor skills and sense of touch in my hands. Every year the wrenching gets harder, more painful, takes more time for not only the repair of the vehicle but repair of my body. Thank you again for keeping the dream alive.

[@aaronmycar9166]

One of the guys on Matt's recovery put portals on his bronco. They did an episode where they compared it to one of Matt's rescue vehicles. You'd have to look back a couple of months but I thought you may be interested.

[@roberthand5777]

@aaronmycar9166 thanks for the tip

[@brianmaynard7320]

While I THINK I may never do portals, this is DAMN GOOD information.. Thanks, boss!!

[@DirtLifestyle]

Thank you for watching man! I appreciate the positive comment 👊

[@iamblaineful]

I love the tech and it was super interesting, even though I would likely not be a customer for 74Weld or Werewolf portals. For me, I'm more interested in 1 tons, 40+ tires, and PSC as it's more practical for where I wheel and I don't want to bed chop my JT. I know it's super "traditional", but where I live we've outgrown the 37s.

[@DirtLifestyle]

Yeah, 1 tons with 40s is hard to beat for performance and practicality 👍.

[@rvarsigfusson6163]

MB Gelentewagen can be ordered with portals..... That is a beast.

[@taylorwoodruff3261]

Love the informative videos!!! Of course I love the builds and crawling/camping stuff too but I love learning new stuff and broadening the knowledge in my personal brain library haha. For real have learned so much watching your videos!! Thank you!!!

[@matthewschneider2089]

Dude thanks for the schooling!! Great job!! That would be the next level of wheeling for me!!!✌️

[@taurota1554]

Thanks for sharing and taking us along.Outstanding and awesome content as always.

[@DirtLifestyle]

Thank you 👍

[@MrDehicka]

Dozen guys in my country run Tibus on multiple Jeeps, Toyota, UAZ since 2014-2016, all going strong. Recently seen them on Bronco and Tank300 also. 3 or 4 helical gears, +9.5" each side width, CTIS, 10 year warranty. Also they are way cheaper in Europe than you listed: 7-12K$

[@RyanWithAviators]

I'd like to point out a possible reason why some HMMWV portal gears strip out; these rigs had inboard brakes, meaning all the braking happened at the axle shaft, between the differential and the portal box. Therefore, all the braking force has to travel through the portal gears.

[@nothingtoseaheardammit]

On the H1/HMMWV's - the geared hubs never fail before the halfshafts do. They are literally the strongest things on the rig. My friends run 3.08s with 42's on their 10,000 curb weight H1's and never break a geared hub... its always the halfshaft (which come in 10k and 12k varieties too) diffs and driveshafts that break well before the geared hubs do.

[@UncleBildo]

Sounds like portals have their down sides for sure. Don't think my current build would be prime for them regardless! It'd be fun to join up with you guys for a trip, but only one of your milder ones! Dunno if my XJ is up to the full on rock crawling action quite yet, and I might have to stock up on underwear. Just recently getting into a little more rugged off roading, grew up in the pucker brush of Eastern Washington, so grew up on gravel roads and old two tracks thru the sage and trees. Picked up a clean/straight XJ last month, am modding it up. Starting with 4 1/2 inch long arm lift, 8 1/2 inch wheels to hold better at low pressure, and 33 inch big lug MT's. Bumpers, winch, tire carrier, lockers.... by end of winter should be ready. Will probably hit Moses Lake Dunes to check it out a few times between now and then. My main angle is old logging and mining roads, old mines, rock hunting, and lookin' for a sexy female sasquatch.....

[@fataxe1]

dowel pins are the bigger indicator of the manufacturer controlling case flex. 2 dowels minimum at a diameter about the size or larger of the clamping bolts are good indicators. the face flexing past one another is what cause seal failure and gear misalignment causing catastrophic failure. the bigger the fastener the better, but consistent spacing and a good thread design are also more important. the clamped piece being aluminum is fine, but the threads going into steel is the best. aluminum can also be upgraded by having helicoils from the factory. it is common in aerospace design to use helicoils on a weaker metallic substrate because the shear on the steel wire is far greater, and gives an area advantage for the aluminum without having excessive clamp force from over sized bolts. honestly, the biggest key to long term failure is that maintenance interval and recognizing that it will be an inherently weaker design. keeping that foot under control or using torque management based on wheel speed is a good automated tool. bouncing off rocks breaks everything. damn near doesnt matter the design.

[@azazeldeath]

Wanted portals for years. But own a 80 series landcruiser so solid axles. And in aus. Meaning it's expensive af. To those wondering I have a HZJ80R 1hz manual.

[@lennyross2813]

Since you sold THE 80 SERIES LANDCRUISER in order to buy the 74 Weld portals….IT BETTER BE WORTH IT!

[@rickybailey7123]

Thanks for all that info I've seen them but didn't know much about them I do now well way more than I did and they cost alot just like I new they would!!

[@kylemcvicar]

Loved my VW dune buggy with the portal bus transaxle. It went dam near anywhere when it wasn't broke down. Best project car a 12 year old could have and yeah nobody could help fix the portals I had to learn everything as I went. Ran 30" tires on the front with 33" on the back and a clear 18" of ground clearance. Never got it hung up.

[@ExpatonTwoWheels]

As always, great info and great video. Looking forward to seeing them installed on your Taco.

[@apdsdeveloppement74]

For light applications, you can use VW T1 transporter splitcase portal (3 Gears) In France, we found Simca marmon with portals, or Renault trm trucks ( and unimog of course) ... It's cheap, but we don't see a lot of Big 4x4 with portals...

[@danhufferdoutdoors]

Years ago I read somewhere, a guy ran a fish tank aquarium air pump to everything he wanted water to stay out of, gear boxes, gauges, and the like, he claimed it made just enough positive pressure to keep water out, without pushing any oil out.

[@xTinBenderX]

This video will/should get tons of traffic. WELL DONE!

[@DirtzukOffroad]

H1 12k portals have 32 spline input and most of them are straight cut gears. My portals were 10k 27 spline and I upgraded to 32 spline 12k input by replacing the upper spur gears. Only the H1 "alpha" came with helical gears. Also all factory 12K portals come with CTIS

[@DirtLifestyle]

Great info, thank you 👊

[@richardvalitalo3670]

Thanks so much for all your research & sharing, awesome work!

[@buddhaweatherby368]

I would counter that a lot of mechanics from both USMC and Army would be ok to repair these and vets are scattered pretty widely. Great video man, I would really like to have them on my Land Cruiser, but I am holding off for now.

[@rustyh8806]

The 404s deal with scrub radius by running 12* kingpin inclination and cambering the wheels. On my buggy with 42” tires, the top of the tire is 1 1/2” wider per tire on top than it is on the bottom. BTW 411 mogs use a 1.94:1 gear set.

[@mastermoarman]

You should do flipped ford9 inch stubby housing with reverse cut gears, use sand rail/porche/vw bug , half shaft with custom long arm ifs based on the sxs aftermarket one. And rear should be trailing arms. Maybe take allot of q's from. The high end polaris and canam suspension designs

[@coreysaxe3902]

You need to add an “I’m not an engineer” counter to this video. 🤣

[@DirtLifestyle]

lol dude seriously though... I'm not an engineer 😀

[@coreysaxe3902]

@ 🤣🤣 love watching your channel man! Keep up the great content!

[@keyshreds5214]

Take a sip or a shot every time he says “I’m not an engineer”

[@goatworks734]

Engineer here - if it breaks there weren't enough bolts, if it doesn't break there's too many bolts

[@coreysaxe3902]

@@goatworks734 🤣

[@illernpiller]

Regarding any tariffs, it's you who will pay it, not the company selling the item you import from.

[@patrickobrien5424]

Great deep dive into portals!!

[@kennygustafsson69]

Live in sweden, for 10-15 years ago you could buy Volvo portals for maybe 1500-2500 us but now is the price 5-6000 us + locker, portal, holds up to our small car(max 2000 kg) good with rcv i front - trumbrakes, hevay, portals makes hard to build low

[@rvarsigfusson6163]

There is a company in Sweden who is solo selling the 303 parts, it`s name is TATANKA I think. They got all of the spare parts from Volvo few years back. But some company in USA is/was making portals parts for 303.

[@noahkonstantinou3149]

The volvo portal axles were a "commonly" done conversion to land rovers in australia, seen a few online and 1 in person, they were able to had relatively cheap from ex army c303s in Malaysia or Indonesia can't remember and were a good fit into land rovers and not as heavy as unimog portals

[@CraigSimons]

I’m considering the 74 weld portals for a 392 JLUR. I’d replace the control arms with MetalCloak arms for strength due to the leverage and twisting forces, but probably keep the factory arm dimensions and probably run 38-40” tires. All future plans after I’m done playing it the 2018 JLUR.

[@tristenwelch1675]

So, I'm not sure if anyone one else ever saw but there's a guy that had started to develop a method to drop a planetary gear set into stock dana 60 (pre '04) hubs that replaced the hub locker and transformed the unit bearing into a single stage planetary set up. And with cup earing seats that busted knuckle makes, you could make a crawler rig out of stock axles without having to go into it and changing the gears. Literally just a drop in set up and you'd reduce the final gear ration by a factor of 4. I looked at modifying his set up by using the F-550 superduty unit bearings that are 35 coarse spline which would allow for a larger planetary set and potentially stronger helical gears.

[@yellow_noise3]

Great video. Made me think again if I really need portals...