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Avalanche's New Toys...
Ever thought of having portal axles? Similiar to what a Unimog axle would be, or what the monster trucks with 5 ton axles and above. For those of you that dont know what a portal axle is; A portal axle is one that has gear reduction at the hubs to. An easy example of this would be a hummer axle. Now your asking why is all this needed? Well, there are two advantages to a portal axle, one being gear reduction is at the hub, therefor you basicly eliminate any chance of axleshaft breakage. The other advantage is the clearence you gain. Look below at the pictures and see how high gear reduction hubs allow you to put your axle. Talk about clearence eh? So now your all saying where can I get one and how much. Well just hold on one minute. Lets talk disadvantages. Portal axles have alot more complexity in the hubs. Ever seen a hummer break a spindle inside its portal hubs? Not a pretty sight on the trail. There are usually gear sets, chain drives, or other pieces to reduce the speed of the axle, and of course increase torque/gear ratio. Now that you have all this gear reduction in your hubs you can crawl like crazy and never break a shaft. But what about the street use? Its possible don't get my wrong... but i wouldnt drive it.
I've heard talk that a few people are saying Avalanche's design will get hung up on the gear reduction boxes. Well yes and no. Sure it will, but simply becuse its about the same clearence as a normal axle tube would be. And hell the pinion normally hangs way lower then that. I believe Avalanche has a great design here. Using dana60 hubs and brakes and such, give them plenty of u-joint beef and shear strength. And ford 9", how common is that? ;)
Heres a look at Avalnche's new creation. It is using a Ford 9" 3rd member, and axle tubes. On the outer tubes where a spindle and a hub normally go (on a standard diff), the goto a gear reduction bux (the portal). Power comes in from the diff, and is then thrown through an odd set of gears (3 i assume) in order to rotation correct. This enables them to get monster gearing, and all the torque load is at the hubs of the axles. The ends of the portals use dana60 spindles, steering, and brakes for plenty of beef. Not to mention these will also be all chromoly housings. Go figure eh? Tell the wife this is the next thing on the christmas list. And expect to pay around 10-13K i'd estimate.
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