Interested in your impressions.

Is the rear dif centered or is that an option. The reason I ask is that I have seen non steer volvo portal rears with the dif offset to the passenger side which is what I want (Rover)

My stupid questions include thing like how are the brakes, are they metric or SAE piped. How do the lockers seem to function? Can they be converted to air rather than vacuum.

Also anyone know where to find the best deal on them is? 8k is too much considering what mog axles go for.

Let me know what you think.

I think my rangie would look pretty good with them underneeth

Ron

:nuke: I buy it, I break it

So it looks like the answers is NO.

except for this guy

http://www.geocities.com/mylrom/members/membersgallerypics/oldmanturtle.jpg

Somehow I don't think he paid 8k for them.

Look carefully (I know the pic sucks) and you will see the passenger offset of both axles and the stock 1963 Rover drivetrain.

If you search teh site 3 or 4 of them have the volvo "laplander" portals . . . if only I lived in malaysia or sweden.

Come on some one has to know something!

Ron

Wanted: volvo portals

dead link man...

POS geocities. You can click on it and get there but when you just try to go there direct it is dead.

Try this:

http://www.geocities.com/mylrom/members/membersindex.htm

Scoll down to the "old man" truck

Ron

Better. At least for my application (rover)

You can get them with both front and rear diff offset to the passenger side. This is what I want. Or get the front offset to the passenger side and the rear centered.

Rarer and more expensive than mog axles, but way less than avalanche.

Stronger. I dunno. I doubt I could break any of them.

Ron

i belive they are similar to the ones jon at allpro is selling. give him a call for the 411.

Thanks camo,
I called Allpro about a month ago. They told me that I could only get the rear dif centered which was a deal breaker for me. Chris was helpful and gave me external measurements but was not sure about interal strength or anything like that.

I got a call last night from one of the people at xtremealxe (which is out of LA if anyone local wants to go check it out). Turns out that you can get the rear offset to the passenger side (or centered), two gearsets are available 5.99 and 6.7 total with reduction. Either of which are doable, even with 35s given rover's T-case gearset choices, though I am leaning toward 5.99s.

I am still looking for someone who as actually wheeled them in US applications. I have email some of the folks in Malaysia and non of them have broken anything yet, seems good enough for me.

They have disc brake conversions (wilwood) and the lockers can be switched to cable (tre cool if you ask me).

I am an early adoptor but I don't want to be the guinea pig. Not like I am running competitions and need to have an edge, I just want something that won't break like everything else on a rover.

At this point I am trying to figure out what kind of suspension will work as I am very happy with what I have now (mostly www.rovertym.com parts) and plan to keep it if the portals will allow. I plan to keep the drum brakes and funky stock wheels as the brakes are mainly lucas girling and the wheels are ideal for the tires I would want to run now or in the future (16in 10ply tall and narrow).

The other option would be to build another leaf sprung rover or put them under my series II 88. The former is not really what I want and the latter is really pushing stability.

I don't like to go for anything until I have the situation well in hand and an good plan. Anything anyone knows would be great.

Thanks
Ron

I think the cheapest way to get Volvo portals is to buy a Volvo C303 truck in Sweden for 2-3k and ship it over to the US.
For 8k you could get a totally rebuilt Volvo C303 a with new Body.

The short answer is it is illegal to import one. They are not 25 years old yet. I could import just the axles but I would need someone in sweden to take them off for me.

Ron

actually it is not illegal to import one, i dont know who told you that. you can import anything but you cant register everything. huh? sometimes i confuse myself. anyway, yes you can import one, ar anything else under the sun.

Sorry man you got it wrong on this one.

You can import it, saying it is for parts, but that does not fly anymore. They very least it has to be missing the engine.

If the vehicle is a complete going concern customs sends them back if they find them and it is under 25 years old.

who told me? Customs and my international customs broker.

I have brought in 4 trucks in the last couple years (all 25 years plus).

You can chance it, but why risk it? I don't want the rest of the truck, just the axles

Ron

FYI -Three pals of mine have bought a set each, at 1290$ including vacuum clock and levers for the dash.

Got pictures in development, getting back to you.

BTW, who the FUCK made those axles (volvo laplander / xtremeaxle?) from the beginning? I live in sweden, but noone seems to know (care) what make it is.. -Yes it says "Volvo" in the cast, but it was i license.. Some say "ZF" made them (Austria or Germany or something)

Flattie portals coming up.

/Magnus

I just saw this guys portol's

http://www.xtremeaxle.com.futuresite.register.com

evilfij have you been to this site yet?

http://www.algonet.se/~fjaras/tgb11/eng/index.html

Here's a conversion that'll help you out ;)
14,000.00 Swedish kronor = 1,383.76 US dollars

Jon

ZF makes a lot of portal axles so maybe they made the 303 ones. Maybe it is stamped somewhere, I dunno.

Jon, I will definately be looking into that. i wonder what shipping would be to the US? I also may have another way of making that happen so definately thanks for the link.

xtremeaxle is 6-8k

Ron

You can get the Unimog Portals with 9" Center. Gear ratios available from 5.30 to 12.00. Offset where ever you want. Lockers of your choice. CTIS (Central Tire Inflate System) also available. :beer:

The Swedish army have sold hundreds of Volvo c303 to a english company :mad: and they are selling them on auctions in sweden for $2-3k so theres a lot of trucks on the market now.

Try these two links for mog axles. So tell me why you want 303's instead of 404's? The 406 axles I know have adaptation problems but the 404s work great from what I have seen.

http://www.angelfire.com/ak4/johnson/


http://www.exaxt.ca/

Tell me why 406/416 axles have any adaptation problems that 404's do not. There really isn't any difference as far as that goes. It is going to take a fair ammount of fabrication to get either of them to work well on any vehicle other than Mog. I would say that 406/416 axles would be easier to make fit in miore vehicles because they don't have the huge 3rd member with a pinion flange tha is 18" away frm axle center.

Sean<-- soon to have a set of 416 axles

404/411 axles are different in the construction to the 406/421/416´s. The 406..`s have a cast housing and there is no way to change it. It is a lot easier to change the housing (narrow) on the 404´s. The only thing better on the406´s is the shorter pinion flange (about 3" shorter), but the axle is a lot heavier. Take a look at the Diff. In the most cases the front Diff is to far to the middle of the axle and the rear comes with an offset. Well , if it fits in your rig it´s a good choice. I had the 406´s in my CJ without problems. Oh no, i had a lot of problems with the drum brakes in the mud or in the water. But now i prefer the 404´s because the availability of disc-brakes, the possibility to change the offset of the differential, the availability of a CTIS system, less of weight and it´s easier to get parts. But, as far as i know, it is not possible to put the Diff. to the passenger side.
Right now i am really happy with my 404´s

From one of the above links, I would have never thought about jumping a portal. Can the Volvo's handle this all the time, or does he go thru a few every year?

Here's a 2.6Mb Video clip featuring a jumping Volvo portal equipped rig.
http://multimedia.campus.luth.se/offroad/volvo_portal_jump.mpg

Unimog and other portal action (40Mb):
http://multimedia.campus.luth.se/offroad/portalaction.mpg

I havent seen one break yet, but you americans seems to like rock much more than my gang.

ohohohoh

I may have scored! One the way back from Wales the other week I seen a farm that had about a dozen of what looked like C303s parked behind a barn. Must go check it out....

Hey Sweden...how available are these in the junkyards in sweden? I'm not that far away you know and have a GMC dually and a trailer :emb:

Do the volvo portals have the same lubrication problems that the Mog's do on the highway? Is there a recommended speed limit?

I'm no expert, but i know that people who used them when they were doing their military service have ran them for hours and hours in ~90km/h (Yeah, go convert it and you will know) and not experiencing any such things.

And to reply to the question of aviability, -there's only one yard that has gotten 65 running vehicles to scrap.. Think its pretty south so go for it!

BTW, you were in England? -Go check this English company out: http://www.leavesley.com/ -> Swedish surplus

Our retarded goverment sold 3000 vehicles to you guys for like NOTHING. Noone knows why, has been discussed in national television. "We didnt want to take the environmental hit" or something like that. So know they went to England instead.. Fucked up.

Would it be possible that you could email me details of the yard in the south?

Much appreciate the info.

All i know is this:

http://www.utskrotningen.com -> Big banner "Fjärås bildemontering"

Sniperfire,

Where in England? If its england I can get them to me for next to free.

The swedish guy has not emailed me back.

PLEASE let me know Sniperfire!

6000! Humm lots of happy rover owners could get portals.

Ron

Like I said I aint sure if they were them or not...knowing my luck they will be some sort of LR military vehicle. They were near Cambridge. I'll have to retrace my GPS coords to find them again as they were on some country lanes.

I've got an email in to both the Swede junkyard and the surplus guy in Birmingham.

I've got a couple friends headed to Sweden in July for an offroad trip with trailers...might be able to get them to pick up a couple sets for me.

hey ron im also REALLY interested in a set so if you bring over a pair bring over another pair for me since you can get such a deal on shipping, k??

i WANT THESE AXLES FOR MY ROVER.
http://www.geocities.com/landyshah/mohican.jpg
all that clearance and thats only with 34s!!! :smokin:

Let us know Sniperfire.

Ron

Originally posted by evilfij
Sorry man you got it wrong on this one.

You can import it, saying it is for parts, but that does not fly anymore. They very least it has to be missing the engine.

If the vehicle is a complete going concern customs sends them back if they find them and it is under 25 years old.

who told me? Customs and my international customs broker.

I have brought in 4 trucks in the last couple years (all 25 years plus).

You can chance it, but why risk it? I don't want the rest of the truck, just the axles

Ron

It was just within a few years that a special vehicle clause was added for special interest vehicles. I am sure that would apply. But I understand that if all you want is the axles then why bring the whole thing in.

Got an email from the place in Birmingham today (Leavesley International) said that they couldn't help me out. I wrote him an email back asking him why they were advertising that they had Volvo C303s for sale and promoting this big contract they got to dispose of Swedish Military equipment. I'll let you know what his response is when I hear back from him.

Haven't heard back from the junkyard in Sweden...they're prolly looking for a translator or something. :(

I'll be very surpriced if the guys at the junkyard doesnt understand/speak english. Call them up and chat with them.

The average Swede knows English well.