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Frequent Asked Questions What are portal axles?? Why Portal-Tek axles??We get these questions a lot. People want to know what the advantages there are to a portal axle over a traditional axle. Hopefully this page will help answer those questions. Q. What is a portal axle? A. A portal axle is an axle that incorporates two box ends (portals) on the end of the axle shaft that allows for 4.5" of clearance, gear reduction, and reduction of stress points and fatigue to the rest of the axle. With a portal axle, you gain 4.5" of clearance or lift, without modifying the suspension system of the vehicle. You gain clearance under the axle without increasing the distance between the axle and the vehicle frame. This allows for larger tires without adversely affecting steering and suspension geometry. It also gives the vehicle TRUE LIFT because the lift is beneath the axle and the ground and not between the axle and the frame. Q. Why are Portal-Tek Axles advantageous to a suspension lift? A. Suspension lifts increase the distance between the axle and the frame. This allows you to use larger tires, which in turn gives you some TRUE LIFT. EX: Lifting a truck 10” will allow you to run a taller tire, but the TRUE LIFT is only equal to the radius or half of the height difference of your new tires verses your old tires. 36” tires are 3” taller than 33” tires, but the radius of that is only 1.5”, thereby in order to gain 1.5” of TRUE LIFT, you have to lift your vehicle tall enough to clear a larger diameter tire. The downside of this is by lifting your vehicle higher you sacrifice a low center of gravity and increase stress on suspension mounting points, drive shaft angles, and steering geometry. A Portal Axle running no suspension lift and a 33” tire will give you 4.5” of TRUE LIFT with no changes to suspension and/or steering geometry and minimal changes to center of gravity. 36” tires will give you 6” of TRUE LIFT with the same minimal negative effects. Q. What makes Portal-Tek Portals so special? A. Portal-Tek axles are a unique design that offers many strengths, advantages, and options over a traditional axle and other portal axles. Our design utilizes a standard Ford 9" center section. Portal-Tek Axles provide a wide availability of parts, options of off-the-shelf ring and pinion, and easily obtainable replacement parts from you local auto parts store. All bearings and seals have been selected for commonality and cost effectiveness. Our portal boxes are completely engineered, tested, re-tested, and designed to take the use and abuse of any type of vehicle, driver, or drive train. The boxes are chromoly cast alloy pieces that can withstand side and frontal loads. The internal bearings and gears are designed to withstand greater side loads, which are a common problem in other portal axles. Portal-Tek axles come complete with 4 wheel disc brakes from Wilwood. Well known for their expertise in the brake market, pads and rotors are readily available. We source axle shafts from Superior Axle using 4140 or 300M material. They come standard equipped with Dana 44 U-Joints and yokes. We also offer a CV Joint version on a custom order basis. Our portal boxes will accommodate most 16" wheels and all 17" and larger wheels. We offer options as to lug patterns, axle widths, ring and pinion options, lockers, spring mounts, and axle shaft material. Our axles are completely built and customized to meet your specifications and your needs. Q. What makes Portal-Tek Portals better then Unimog and Volvo portals? A. Strength. Availability of parts. Custom options. Both the Volvo and Unimog portals were designed for use under 5 ton transport type vehicles. They were not engineered to be used under a vehicle with very large tires and high horsepower. They were not designed for high side load stresses from off-camber situations and larger tires. This is evident with the number of sheared and broken Unimog boxes and sheered teeth on Volvo gears. Portal-Tek portal boxes contain the latest in technology when it comes to accommodating side load stresses. Our boxes ARE designed to be used with large off-road tires, in off-camber situations, and allot of horsepower and torque. They are designed for heavy off-road use and competition vehicles. They are built to handle the stresses of an off-road environment and off-road vehicles. If you have any questions or comments regarding Portal-Tek and what we have to offer, please feel free to contact us at contact@portal-tek.com Copyright Portal-Tek 2008 |