Has anyone out there put Hummer portals onto a solid axle, like a flipped D44 or whatever? Ever heard of it being done?

If not, can you think of any reason why it wouldn't work, or any major hurdles in doing it? AFAIK the Hummer portals are the only domestic alternative to the European Mog/Volve/Pinzgaeur stuff, so why don't we see this being done all over?

Seems to me like you could carve custom axle yokes out of a couple hunks of steel, bolt 'em up to welded flanges on the axle tube, and you're good to go. The diff oiling issues of a flipped axle can't be impossible to figure out...

Chris

my guess as to why it isnt done more is the cost?

yep, cost vs. gains. Now if ya have some parts just lying around... <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Well Chris, if anyone can do it, you can. Your double T-case setup is awesome.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Grandpa! <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> Wish I felt worthy of it.

Cutter & Duck: sure it wouldn't be cheap (I have NO idea how much mil-surplus portal hubs would cost???), but I just can't see it costing more than, say, a custom front Tera 60R or whatever the latest fashion accessory is these days in axles. The 44 housing and shafts would run $200 tops, and you could get the 2.73 gears for free <IMG SRC="smilies/eyemouth.gif" border="0">...

Even Mog axles are a couple g's each, and IMHO the price tag on those Volvo portal axles is way out to lunch, so depending on how easy/hard it is to get the portal hubs, maybe this is the poor- (or cheap-) man's option for portal axles, no?

I'm still hoping someone out there knows someone who's done this. Failing that, anyone got some Hummer hubs kicking around? <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Chris

[ 10-26-2001: Message edited by: cwate ]

Good point! A hybrid axle from Sunray up front and a Tera60 in the rear would add up! Mmmmmm....now ya got me thinking!

i recall talking to a fellow that was a certified hummer mechanic and he said he had seen many broken hubs and in his opinion they were really weak. just food for thought
bob

I have heard alot of bad things about the Hummer Hubs. Many of those bad things involve the wheel falling off.

Alos, you would have to make a custom inner knuckle to bolt to a solid axle. This would be difficult/expensive to do right.

Mog axles are not as expensive as you seem to think they are. You can get brand new axles incrate from Mercedes dealerships for less than what you quoted.

Sean

ok, newbie here...

Can someone explain to me what portal axles are.. or direct me to a place I can read about them..
the search results i get give methreads that talk about how people like them, but doesnt explain how they arebuild/work..

TIA

ok, how bout this, since mog axles are so cheap, would it be possible to run mog portals on a flipped 44 or whatever? that would be bad ass, but i seem to recall that the portal housings are molded in with the rest of the axle case, shouldnt be a problem with some ver accurate measurements and a good welder.

just look through the last like five days of posts there seems to be a bunch of them.

If a wheel falls off on a Hummer, the nut on the spindle was not properly put on with the star washer.

Originally posted by the kid in the hall:
<STRONG>ok, how bout this, since mog axles are so cheap, would it be possible to run mog portals on a flipped 44 or whatever</STRONG>

no because when you flip the axle to get the correct rotation for the hubs the oiling for the pinion gets all messed up. I have thought about this and I can see only one other option.....Take my YJ for instance. I need a reverse rotation front but if I put on a standard rotation front and ran hummer hubs everything would turn the correct way <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">. Food for thought.

Originally posted by RockJeep:
<STRONG>i recall talking to a fellow that was a certified hummer mechanic and he said he had seen many broken hubs and in his opinion they were really weak. just food for thought
bob</STRONG>

I've been looking at the military surplus Marine hummers that have came up for sale lately, all have had problems from lack of lubrication in these assembly. (might explain why the seem cheaply priced)

Originally posted by the kid in the hall:
<STRONG>ok, how bout this, since mog axles are so cheap, would it be possible to run mog portals on a flipped 44 or whatever? that would be bad ass, but i seem to recall that the portal housings are molded in with the rest of the axle case, shouldnt be a problem with some ver accurate measurements and a good welder.</STRONG>

No, the inner knuckles are bolted to the housing. and are removable. Dont forget that you will have to have some kind of custom collar made to make the dana shafts spline up to the Mog hubs.

Sean

Check out the Fat City Bronco pics posted earlier. The Bronco has ford 9" with Portal axle hubs mated to it. I believe the axle ratio in the 9" was 2.86. Don't remember what the portal hub reduction is. It does give you some incredible ground clearance. The Assassin has custom portal style axles. With this setup you definitely need a coil over type suspension. http://www.pirate4x4.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=10&t=014439 http://www.pirate4x4.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=10&t=014805

This post shows the axle. http://www.pirate4x4.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=10&t=013848