Littest right foot on the forum.I swear every time you post I have to read very slowly and still, my mind hurts haha.All I know is I’m still on my original CV’s after 57,000 miles and I wheel a ton. No issues but I’m careful with technique and locker usage. I treat it like my Jeeps Dana 30
No, no. If by him your referring to @SierraBronco bronco, Ive complemented his build many times in other threads. I actually love the look and capabilities. My question simply is about hypothetically comparing the costs of Portals vs. all associated costs to get the same amount of clearance from a lift while also factoring associated early wear. It should be reasonably simple math. My guess is portals are still way more expensive (cost prohibitive really for my own standards of use), but I am curious of the cost comparison both ways.
My misunderstanding... but you are going to have a difficult time comparing clearance with portals vs clearance via other means... Portals allow you to utilize a larger tire... okay no news there... but lets say you go portals and use a 38 inch tire.... Now to match that same clearance by other means you have to use a 46 inch tire.... 8 inches in tire diameter will yield 4 inches of clearance, same as the portal does without a tire change.... How are you going to fit a 46 inch tire on a Bronco? Is there another means that could? I suppose if you completely cut the thing up and use some custom designed lift... Then there is the gearing. A portal at 1.22 with 40s creates a final ratio to the ground slightly lower than stock... "To the GROUND".... (factoring tire circumference into the equation....) what kind of gearing are you going to go with to turn a 46 or larger tire (48 inch if comparing to 40s). Your ring and pinion tooth profile gets mighty thin when getting over a 5 to 1... so you have to go to a larger housing so you can use a larger ring and pinion to get a lower gear and now you just lowered your clearance because of the larger diff housing. Now you have to go to a larger tire to get the same clearance.... It is a vicious circle.
Maybe a buggy with 6g body parts?
Agreed. And knowing his build, I knew it was gonna be apples to oranges anyway since he’s already done all that AND added portals on top of it all. But unfortunately for me, he’s the only one I follow that runs portals. So my sample size to ask the question was gonna be pretty narrow. Haha.
Well I do not put in the amount of mileage that sierra is doing.... Mine have held up quite well. I have not had his problems but then I stuck with a 5 link. I did change to a crawler series with johnny joints at each end of all 5 bars though. It does provide more articulation but not quite that of the 4 link. I run the trails, but not as hard. I am slow and meandering. I got one of the first ten sets so I did not get any of the brake shim issues guys got when they made the bearing change. I have had no problems at all.... zero... but I have only about 5500 miles on them because I typically run the bronco only on the weekends when I am hitting the trails. I have had 2 runs where I put over 100 miles on them each way (to and from) on the highway... 75 to 80 mph... solid, no issues. I will keep an eye on my knuckle ball joints since I am putting considerably more leverage and therefore stress on them... Other than that I am really happy....
What’s funny is you still have more miles on your portals than we do. We just barely hit 4000.
Well Well... interesting. It just does not seem like I drive mine that much. All week long I am wishing I was driving it.
You had your portals longer than us though. And didn’t have a couple months of downtime to fabricate new parts and fix fire damage.
Portals are probably cheaper than everything you will eventually replace with your steering/drive angles! lol
True... I will have had mine right at a year here in a few weeks with very little down time. Only down time is when I I ripping the dash off or something like that for some new mod... Stereo is next as soon as Morel can get the parts on shore. I will rip it all apart again for sound deadening and amp connections and placement.... Finally had enough of this B&O so called system. Thought I could live with it but ... No... I am too spoiled. I run full 13.2 electrostatics at home, even my uppers.
Jeeps, and other solid front axle vehicles do break , front axle shafts, shaft u-joints, steering knuckles, ect...when pushed hard enough. Remember everyone is staring with an OEM unit which factory BB sackers have looked long and hard at, money wise ,and weighed broken parts for those that really push the limits- to the masses that drive to the store and in an occasional snow storm. ( and side on the few dollars they save on each unit going with the later).
lol
