Portal Axles on Dana 60? CTIS too?
- Thread starter psychohawk
- Start date
lstzephyr
wanderer
got any info on people doing that? I'd love to read about it.
Metcalf
Expedition Leader
unimog axles are problematic to install in most domestic vehicles. To use the just the outers you have to flip the axle housing over so that the axle shaft rotates the other direction. The unimog portal ends only use 2 gears so they are built to counter rotate. Using the entire axle from the unimog is possible, but the differential generally needs to be shifted over to get the driveshafts to line up. The diffs are not far enough to one side to make it work stock unless you want to shift the engine/trans/t-case over. Unimog axles also use a torque tube type suspension so you have to convert the pinions to use a standard u-joint. Gearing in the stock unimog axles is also very steep. The 404 version are 7.56:1 if I remember right. The later model stuff is in the 5-7:1 range also.
While portal axles seem like a great idea, and it can be, for most vehicles it just not needed. Running a heavy duty standard style axle with a larger tire 37-40" tall will give you a good amount of ground clearance for most anything. It will also get you a tire large enough to air down to make a difference in flotation for sand and snow. Most vehicles with the appropriate fender modifications can run that big of a tire with little to no lift.
Another downside to a portal axle is that the main beam of the axle ends up so high in the chassis that it really limits uptravel.
One big advantage to portal axles however, is the ability to somewhat easily have CTIS. Since the back side of the lower gear isn't continuing into another axle shaft is pretty easy to have a rotating air coupling.
While portal axles seem like a great idea, and it can be, for most vehicles it just not needed. Running a heavy duty standard style axle with a larger tire 37-40" tall will give you a good amount of ground clearance for most anything. It will also get you a tire large enough to air down to make a difference in flotation for sand and snow. Most vehicles with the appropriate fender modifications can run that big of a tire with little to no lift.
Another downside to a portal axle is that the main beam of the axle ends up so high in the chassis that it really limits uptravel.
One big advantage to portal axles however, is the ability to somewhat easily have CTIS. Since the back side of the lower gear isn't continuing into another axle shaft is pretty easy to have a rotating air coupling.