Looking into Portals what do people think?

[Bugkillah]

Portals remind me of tractors.

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[SierraBronco]

Portals remind me of tractors.

So much clearance!

 

[EasternSierra]

Portals remind me of tractors.

Skinny tires for the win!

 

[5GENIDN]

I just did King 2.5s w Cambridge upper control anrm and have the advanced fiberglass concept 5in fenders and 37s fit with plenty of room. Even with the 2022 SAS bilsteins we’re fine before the upgrade. It is worth noting that the tires are km3s so they are smaller than other tires. No idea if I could fit 40s tho so can’t speak to that at all. My front driver side axle did break in half in a mud pit with the 37s when being winched out by two jeeps…. Now I have RCV front axles but they got a damn click noise when I turn.

I’d say wait a bit as another poster pointed out that the portals are still new to the market.

So how do you like the ride of the Kings when compared to stock HOSS 2? On road? Off road?

There are 30 settings with the resi valve..... if fully open were 0 and completely closed (as tight as they will go) were 30... where do you run the front setting and where do you run the rears?

 

[5GENIDN]

Portals remind me of tractors.

Just guessing here but I think that might be just slightly over 80 inches wide. Doesn't that require the raptor style amber grill lights???

 

[1st 75th ranger]

Looking for the best way (not the most economical which portals would not be) to be able to run 37s and hell maybe even 40s someday on the Bronco Wildtrack with Sasquatch package while maintaining low center of gravity, gaining ground clearance, maintaining good highway ride, and maybe adding/increasing durability. Looks like 74 Weld has a bolt on portal that would allow for that.

everything about portals is great but the price

 

[5GENIDN]

everything about portals is great but the price

They are very expensive.... But.... If you consider what you get for the price... (74 Weld)

1) Axle lift that can not be replicated by any other means
2) Upgraded axle shafts
3) upgraded gearing (regear) but actually better because it regears outside the axles alleviating tortional stress before the ring and pinion.
4) upgraded Brakes.
5) simple easy installation (relatively).

Try to price out replicating this by any other method I think you will find that the price is rather reasonable.... Although yes, expensive. But you are doing a lot, not just a lift.

 

[userdude]

They are very expensive.... But.... If you consider what you get for the price... (74 Weld)

1) Axle lift that can not be replicated by any other means
2) Upgraded axle shafts
3) upgraded gearing (regear) but actually better because it regears outside the axles alleviating tortional stress before the ring and pinion.
4) upgraded Brakes.
5) simple easy installation (relatively).

Try to price out replicating this by any other method I think you will find that the price is rather reasonable.... Although yes, expensive. But you are doing a lot, not just a lift.

Portals are like Bloodsport-era Jean Claude Van Damme when all we needed was Honey I Shrunk the Kid's Rick Moranis. lol

 

[5GENIDN]

Portals are like Bloodsport-era Jean Claude Van Damme when all we needed was Honey I Shrunk the Kid's Rick Moranis. lol

lets just hope they do not age like Jean Claude Van Damme ....

 

[mpeugeot]

In my experience, anyone who starts a sentence with, "I have a Wildtrak with the Sasquatch package..."

It could be worse... Like me...

"I have the OBX without the Sasquatch package..." LOL. Did I get the right package for hardcore off-roading?

 

[NDM_84]

5hey just need to reduce the price, I still don't understand why the portals and steering rack with tie rods cost almost 30k. P,us you probably need better UCAs LCAs track bar and shocks which should be another 8k. Despite all this I think portals are still the way to go. I am looking at Werewolf, much cheaper with bigger lift at 5 inches and gearing rati of 35 vs. 74weld 22, and on board air. They are a bit heavier but worth looking into. What do you guys think?

 

[SierraBronco]

5hey just need to reduce the price, I still don't understand why the portals and steering rack with tie rods cost almost 30k. P,us you probably need better UCAs LCAs track bar and shocks which should be another 8k. Despite all this I think portals are still the way to go. I am looking at Werewolf, much cheaper with bigger lift at 5 inches and gearing rati of 35 vs. 74weld 22, and on board air. They are a bit heavier but worth looking into. What do you guys think?

Since this thread was initially created we finally got the opportunity to wheel with other broncos on hard trails, both with and without portals, and the other brands of portals. At this point I’m not convinced they’re the ultimate bolt on solution compared to long travel. Certainly they have their place, but with social media trends it almost seems like they are more of a status symbol than anything else. Gucci purse for your mall crawler.

The portal rigs all seemed to start bouncing sooner on the same obstacles compared to conventional builds. Particularly those that still have rubber components in their control arms rather than full heim. Shock tuning might also play a factor there - hard to know as none of the shocks had been dialed in yet for the portals.

Scrub radius issues are real. The portals do affect the ability to steer on high traction surfaces when you’re aired down. More forces will be applied to the tierods as well. You’ll really need to be picky on the tierod upgrades to ensure they have a good failure point or you might break the rack itself (saw it twice) if you have an upgraded housing.

The increased leverage on suspension components is also something you’ll want to address. Double shear UCA mounts and stronger UCA’s at a minimum. One rig with Tibus portals snapped the uniball on a UCA while pushing up a rock maybe 1.5 feet high. (Certainly fatigue was a contributing factor from everything it had done previously)

Noise isn’t an issue with any of them

Serviceability and parts - steel can be welded, on the trail even. 7075 aluminum isn’t going to happen. If you break it you’re waiting on new parts to arrive. I’m told werewolf does try to use as many off the shelf parts as possible, but there are still proprietary parts associated with them. That applies to all of the brands though. One werewolf owner is pretty sick of the leaks. They might have over tightened the stubshaft during the install but it’s not certain at the moment. They just know there’s a leak. I’ve seen plenty of werewolf portals that didn’t leak. We had issues with 74w leaks from the stubshaft seals and fill plugs but that all seems to have been fixed .

Driving the werewolf bronco I could definitely feel the additional gearing reduction and weight from the steel. Stability felt a little better than ours eveb though our bronco with 40’s was still lower than theirs on 38’s. But I believe they’re also wider in addition to being much heavier. Initially I saw the extra weight as a drawback but if you’re getting your suspension revalved for the portals anyway then might as well enjoy the weight if you’re not a baja guy.

The gearing reduction saving your axles seems to be blown a bit out of proportion. Recognizing that driving habits play a role, there are plenty of owners running the recommended 38” tire size and still breaking their axles. We’re on heavy 40’s and have yet to break anything, but wifey is usually pretty soft on the throttle. So that helps.

 

[NDM_84]

Since this thread was initially created we finally got the opportunity to wheel with other broncos on hard trails, both with and without portals, and the other brands of portals. At this point I’m not convinced they’re the ultimate bolt on solution compared to long travel. Certainly they have their place, but with social media trends it almost seems like they are more of a status symbol than anything else. Gucci purse for your mall crawler.

The portal rigs all seemed to start bouncing sooner on the same obstacles compared to conventional builds. Particularly those that still have rubber components in their control arms rather than full heim. Shock tuning might also play a factor there - hard to know as none of the shocks had been dialed in yet for the portals.

Scrub radius issues are real. The portals do affect the ability to steer on high traction surfaces when you’re aired down. More forces will be applied to the tierods as well. You’ll really need to be picky on the tierod upgrades to ensure they have a good failure point or you might break the rack itself (saw it twice) if you have an upgraded housing.

The increased leverage on suspension components is also something you’ll want to address. Double shear UCA mounts and stronger UCA’s at a minimum. One rig with Tibus portals snapped the uniball on a UCA while pushing up a rock maybe 1.5 feet high. (Certainly fatigue was a contributing factor from everything it had done previously)

Noise isn’t an issue with any of them

Serviceability and parts - steel can be welded, on the trail even. 7075 aluminum isn’t going to happen. If you break it you’re waiting on new parts to arrive. I’m told werewolf does try to use as many off the shelf parts as possible, but there are still proprietary parts associated with them. That applies to all of the brands though. One werewolf owner is pretty sick of the leaks. They might have over tightened the stubshaft during the install but it’s not certain at the moment. They just know there’s a leak. I’ve seen plenty of werewolf portals that didn’t leak. We had issues with 74w leaks from the stubshaft seals and fill plugs but that all seems to have been fixed .

Driving the werewolf bronco I could definitely feel the additional gearing reduction and weight from the steel. Stability felt a little better than ours eveb though our bronco with 40’s was still lower than theirs on 38’s. But I believe they’re also wider in addition to being much heavier. Initially I saw the extra weight as a drawback but if you’re getting your suspension revalved for the portals anyway then might as well enjoy the weight if you’re not a baja guy.

The gearing reduction saving your axles seems to be blown a bit out of proportion. Recognizing that driving habits play a role, there are plenty of owners running the recommended 38” tire size and still breaking their axles. We’re on heavy 40’s and have yet to break anything, but wifey is usually pretty soft on the throttle. So that helps.

Man I don't even know what to think anymore, sometimes I'm thinking I should just do bigger MT 35s instead of 37s or 38s, get the 0 offset wheel with a bit more of a poke, get a steering rack, new tire rods, those new 8112 Billstein Shocks designed specifically for 35s and get a 1.4 inch lift, and that's all. Maybe get the aftermarket CV axles and better UCAs. Still expensive but a more quality build, I can still do 95% of trails with that set up. I def like the look of a bigger tire and the huge clearance portals provide but man you shouldn't be making life decisions when buying them lol. Any recommendations on what the best aftermarket UCAs are and why. By the way thanks for the great amswer, I'm a newbie in all this so it's good to hear from people who know and have experience.

 

[SierraBronco]

Man I don't even know what to think anymore, sometimes I'm thinking I should just do bigger MT 35s instead of 37s or 38s, get the 0 offset wheel with a bit more of a poke, get a steering rack, new tire rods, those new 8112 Billstein Shocks designed specifically for 35s and get a 1.4 inch lift, and that's all. Maybe get the aftermarket CV axles and better UCAs. Still expensive but a more quality build, I can still do 95% of trails with that set up. I def like the look of a bigger tire and the huge clearance portals provide but man you shouldn't be making life decisions when buying them lol. Any recommendations on what the best aftermarket UCAs are and why. By the way thanks for the great amswer, I'm a newbie in all this so it's good to hear from people who know and have experience.

There’s certainly a lot to consider. I’ve always been a unimog fan so when the bolt on options became a thing it seemed like an awesome solution. And while they haven’t turned out to be all the rainbows and unicorns depicted on the internet, we’re going to keep playing with the bronco and see what we can get from it. But the amount of cutting and welding we’re doing will be something most owners aren’t interested in doing. Especially if they’re paying to have someone else do it and have already dropped some decent cash on the portals themselves.

There are so many different UCA options out there that I really can’t give you the best answer on that. We have RPG but they’re a biatch to adjust for alignment as you gotta pull the bolt. They’re also full heim so you’ll sacrifice comfort and longevity for strength. I think the billet Rock Krawler arms are pretty awesome. Running serviceable bushings, I think they can be adjusted while on the vehicle, and they have a stronger connection to the upright. I think @5GENIDN was looking at ordering a set but don’t know if that happened or not. Probably best to do some research on the different options.

 

[ScLeCo]

Man I don't even know what to think anymore, sometimes I'm thinking I should just do bigger MT 35s instead of 37s or 38s, get the 0 offset wheel with a bit more of a poke, get a steering rack, new tire rods, those new 8112 Billstein Shocks designed specifically for 35s and get a 1.4 inch lift, and that's all. Maybe get the aftermarket CV axles and better UCAs. Still expensive but a more quality build, I can still do 95% of trails with that set up. I def like the look of a bigger tire and the huge clearance portals provide but man you shouldn't be making life decisions when buying them lol. Any recommendations on what the best aftermarket UCAs are and why. By the way thanks for the great amswer, I'm a newbie in all this so it's good to hear from people who know and have experience.

This sounds like a great plan.
IMO unless you're doing some hardcore rock crawling on a regular basis portals are NOT worth the $$$. Period. Full stop.

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