Bolt-On Mod Turns Your 4×4 Into The Ultimate Off-Roader
Portal axles are one of those killer off-road features that not many people know about, and even fewer people add them to their own rigs. It’s a one-stop way to add higher ground clearance without ruining your suspension geometry. At the same time, it gives you even lower gears for the extra stump-pulling torque you need to rock the tallest tires around while actually making things easier on the rest of your driveline instead of harder. This is why monster off-roaders like the Hummer H1 and Mercedes-AMG 4×4² have come with them. Now, you can add portal axles to your own rig, as long as you bring a big pile of cash.
Bolt-On Portals Give Your Off-Roader A Huge Boost
74Weld is a San Diego-based company that has been working on portal axles since a friend built a buggy based on a Unimog all-terrain work vehicle back in 2009. The owner of that rig needed new parts, and they were no longer available, so 74Weld built the parts and then kept going. The company built portals for an Ultra4 race buggy. Then, the team got tired of dealing with Unimog parts and designed its own from scratch.
From there, it built portal axles for Ford’s own factory King of the Hammers Broncos that finished 1,2,3 at the event in 2022. These axles could even work with factory ABS sensors. 74Weld kept going and added applications for the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator. Today it has fitments for the popular Toyota and Lexus 4x4s, the Ford Ranger Raptor, and plenty of off-road custom applications.
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Why would you add them? How about an instant four inches of extra ground clearance on vehicles like that AMG 6×6 model? Real ground clearance, too. Forget the frame and the diffs; even the tie rods and shock mounts are further away from rocks. Fitting 37 or even 39-inch tires on an otherwise stock rig is now suddenly possible.
Turning the big and heavy tires is easy, too. 74Weld’s Jeep portal axles come with a 1.22 gear reduction. That’s 1.22 times more torque at the tires. It’s like swapping your factory 3.73:1 diffs with 4.55s – without cracking the case.
Why Portal Axles Are So Useful
Portal axles are a clever invention. They put a gearbox at the end of your axles. Instead of the axle (or CV shaft) turning the hub and wheel, it turns a gear. Below that gear are more gears, and it’s the last of those gears that turns the hub and wheel. That’s how it gives you more ground clearance because the hub can be several inches below the axle. Because the torque multiplication happens in the box, there is no extra stress on your transmission, transfer case, differentials, or axles.
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Sounds perfect, but nothing’s perfect, right? So what’s the catch? The price. One of 74Weld’s kits will set you back about $20,000 plus installation. But at least this is a bolt-in installation, so it’s relatively easy to install. The kits include all the hardware and instructions, as well as new brakes. Yes, it’s big dollars, but in the off-road world, that’s to be expected for big performance. If you want to spend small, get some lift blocks and end up with a truck that’s barely more useful than stock.
