Portal Axles

74weld makes portals for Toyotas. Don't know much about them but will soon get to see their portals for a Bronco. Not on mine, but a buddies.

 

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself make an OnlyFans

 

Lite Brite getting portals?

 

These seem to be made in Germany, but they say, ~ "Installed by one of our approved vendors". Clearly they don't know the capability of TW members. Lol. I wonder what these cost? Since the Werewolf ones below are $15k.

Are the the ones made in Ukraine?

 

https://broncbustertx.com/products/portals $24,999?!? I hope that includes install... but like you said, the install seems really easy. The only tricky part looks to be cutting the original axles and pressing on gears. But the kits maybe require wheels with major offset, and possibly a re-gear.
Here's the install video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8THG6XlivxI

Note: Broncbuster says Tibus have helical cut gears, so they claim to be much quieter than other mfg's

 

supposedly this made Humvees more reliable having the regear multiplying be done at the hub

which is what portals do
That being said it may require reverting back to a stock crappy final drive ratio in the diffs
As the portals then multiply that
Depending on tire size to factor everything into total final calculation
It may make initial regear unnecessary
But that’s negligible given everyone’s already regeared and changed lockers by that point before these even came out

 

I wish they would have shown the two halves being assembled. To tell if there was a seal between them.

 

group buy $5-off who's in

 

What's up guys - posted this on the build thread but haven't gotten much engagement on it, so figured I'd post here too. Below are some of my thoughts about portals as well as links to some solid content about the portals specifically design for out Tacoma platform. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts.

I listened to a podcast on the 74Weld Tacoma portals and have recently been seeing some of the shops in Colorado offer Werewolf portals. After learning more about portals, I honestly think the price tag of ~$14,500 for the Werewolfs is really not that bad... with portals you essentially bypass a lot of big-time modifications that our trucks need to run a 38" tire properly. It essentially packages the lift, & regear and deletes the need for a CMC or relocation, extensive fender cutting / tubing, custom length CVs (most people would get for long travel setups), etc.. The parts & labor (if paying a shop to install these things) would likely easily bypass that $14.5k price tag of the portals. Plus, you can't achieve the same ground clearance with the more traditional modifications as you can with portals given their offset between the axle shaft and the hub mounting surface.

Curious to hear other opinions. Here is the podcast link to the 74Weld interview with their founder. He provides some really solid information on what portals are, how they work, how they're manufactured, etc.

 

Here's my take, if you care:

Portals are a novelty right now so everybody is fired up on them without looking deeply at the major drawbacks.

Yes you get lift, clear tires easier and get better ground clearance. But what nobody is talking about is the raised COG, the terrible scrub radius, the unsprung weight gain and the massive extra width (while not improving suspension performance at all).

I guarantee you drop 38s or 39s on there with that scrub radius and you'll be cutting out just as much of the firewall and cab mount as everybody else.

Yeah you got some lift, but most people with experience will tell you that you want to keep your truck as low as possible, and articulation and suspension performance is just as important as ground clearance. If I were installing portals, I'd still be looking at running a good mid travel front suspension set at stock ride height, and a rear shock relocation with 14" shocks to actually have a vehicle that's enjoyable to drive and articulates well enough to keep the wheels on the ground.

Clearance alone doesn't make a good wheeling truck, it's a combination of a lot of factors.

I watched a couple videos on Instagram of 74weld installing everything on the Tacomabeast truck, and you can just tell instantly that they don't really know fully what they are getting into when it comes to clearancing the tires.

Edit, just to add, I'm not saying it's a bad product at all. I'm just trying to bring into perspective the whole picture, because there's a lot of hype out there talking about how much better the clearance is, which is totally true, but there are other considerations to make as well

 

All great points and appreciate the input! I completely agree with the statement about still installing a mid travel setup (or something that works for your application) to ensure you have solid suspension setup w/ ample travel. I think a lot of the benefits or drawbacks of portals also comes down to intended use. They're a great upgrade for applications where you need clearance like rock crawling, but completely unnecessary for a pre runner.

To the point on scrub radius: agree that it's essentially unavoidable bc you're dealing with the width the portals add, but as many of the installers have noted they typically use a hugely positive offset wheel to counteract the width increase. As for the ground clearance, I go back an forth. Having something with a high COG isn't ideal, but with the long wheelbases of our trucks, having a raised center of gravity matters a lot less than something like a two door jeep. Again, goes back to intended purpose, but I think I'd be willing to trade a higher COG for ground clearance in the rocks.

Edit: DUDE ALSO - I just realized your Braeden from Overland Outfitters! I freaking love your YouTube man. Have learned a lot from you guys and really appreciate the content you put out. If I'm every up in the BC area would love to come check out the shop sometime.

 

Wow! Thanks man, I appreciate that! Haven't been able to get any videos done lately unfortunately, but that's how it goes sometimes. I'll have a couple coming out soon though hopefully!

 

I totally agree with this.

A friend recently told me that he's likely buying this kit for his 3rd gen based on 74Weld's videos and something about a Tacomabeast guy with the kit doing Rubicon on 37s without a front locker and claiming that "the truck did pretty well." I recently did Rubicon for the first time with 35x10.5s, regeared and double-locked, with OME 886 coils, a Stage 3 Deaver leaf pack, and stock-length OME shocks. I used the front locker pretty sparingly and the winch twice, both climbing Big Sluice in a rainstorm. I came out with a little bit of body damage and a bent slider, and had to use up $110 worth of spare parts that I had on-hand (used low-mileage driveshaft and an emergency valve stem replacement), but it's Rubicon, and that's to be expected IMO. Overall, I think "my truck did pretty well." I guess my point is that, based on my experience, a Tacoma on 37s (with the ground clearance of 42s, mind you) should do "pretty well" on Rubicon, even without a front locker.

That being said, the 74Weld kit is pretty damn cool, particularly because it's more or less a bolt-on modification. However, I just cannot do the mental math to justify the cost and benefits versus the obvious downsides, nevermind the non-obvious ones that may crop up as a result of this being such a limited availability kit with so many proprietary parts.