I've been reading up on portal axles a little bit and love the way that they work. But I don't see them hitting the showroom floors on a new vehicle anytime soon. I don't expect aftermarket portal conversions (to normal axles) either. Portals main advantage is ground clearance, either on solid axles or on IRS/IFS (Hummer). Normal independent suspension starts with the advantage of ground clearance too...but can loose it on rough ground.
Conventional solid axles are simple, cheap and strong.
Maybe there is another way. Why not cherry pick the best from all of the designs? I'd like to see a solid axle with a raised differential. Basically, it would be like IFS, but without suspension movement. Everthing would be frozen in the high ground clearance position.
I'm no expert, but here's the basic idea. Start with the differential in the middle. Use strong inner and outer joints on halfshafts to get the power to the wheels. Build a truss that is higher in the middle and lower on the ends to mount everything in place. Like a bridge.
The halfshafts angle downward a few degrees on this design. Conventional solid axles have zero degrees drop (side-to-side). That looks like room for improvement. In addition, increasing the halfshaft angles can decrease the driveshaft angles.
The hardware for an axle like this wouldn't be too exotic. If you wanted to go overkill, I guess you could build the halfshafts exactly like short driveshafts. Otherwise, a full size truck IFS might be the best place to start.
I also like the fact that since a normal diff is retained, you can use available lockers. No fancy portal gear boxes are used. SMALLER tires can be used with MORE ground clearance. That means that less stuff breaks and gearing is lower.
Conventional solid axles are simple, cheap and strong.
Maybe there is another way. Why not cherry pick the best from all of the designs? I'd like to see a solid axle with a raised differential. Basically, it would be like IFS, but without suspension movement. Everthing would be frozen in the high ground clearance position.
I'm no expert, but here's the basic idea. Start with the differential in the middle. Use strong inner and outer joints on halfshafts to get the power to the wheels. Build a truss that is higher in the middle and lower on the ends to mount everything in place. Like a bridge.
The halfshafts angle downward a few degrees on this design. Conventional solid axles have zero degrees drop (side-to-side). That looks like room for improvement. In addition, increasing the halfshaft angles can decrease the driveshaft angles.
The hardware for an axle like this wouldn't be too exotic. If you wanted to go overkill, I guess you could build the halfshafts exactly like short driveshafts. Otherwise, a full size truck IFS might be the best place to start.
I also like the fact that since a normal diff is retained, you can use available lockers. No fancy portal gear boxes are used. SMALLER tires can be used with MORE ground clearance. That means that less stuff breaks and gearing is lower.