Straight Axle vs Portal Axle 

Wow. Anyone noticed how he didn't ask for a "like or subscribe".. or "share". Props dude

I always watch the whole video, but the fact you always tell people action start time, I think is mighty nice of you. Thanks for the videos!

One of the best explanations of scrub I’ve heard. It’s really had to get people to grasp that concept.

Whether you have straight or portal,it"s all about choosing a good line.

Love your tech aspect on the channel! Always a pleasure to watch. Never afraid to learn new things in this hobbie! Knowledge is Power!

That was a great refinement of the this video...I honestly don't think you missed anything. Great job Joe. I'm posting/sharing this video on Tehachapi RC Rock Crawlers.

Great video. Always so good at explaining and showing the differences. I always learn something. Thank you.

Thank you for another great tech/info video👍 I just love this stuff!! Thanks again 👍💪🏻🤘🏻

Vid aside... that shirt rocks... and love the educational layout of said vid.

I love the details of this. Especially the small Jack stands for the trucks. You just need small scale size floor Jack or scale car lift

Thank you. You cleared up a lot of questions for me.

You should consider revisiting this point using the axial AR45 and AR45P axles. This is good information for people but it's a bit dated now.

Good video and worth watching! I haven’t been able to go trailing like I used to, but, when I do, my trails are mountain trails with loads of obstacles, including roots that seem to reach up and grab axles. I bought a TRX-4 Defender, last year, but have yet to get it out on any legit trails to put the portals to the test, but I think I’m going to find that portals will gain my favor, due to that clearance, right down the centerline. When I go hiking, I don’t like having to constantly stop because my truck has hit a snag. Now, for just hanging around a crawl spot, a straight axle will likely be my preference, because I’ll be able to focus on what lines to pick, versus getting up the trail.

I got the scx10 3 with portals axles and bought the straight axles kit this is good info so now I'm set for anything

I like them both as well as your assessment of them. I think a bit more could be said about the CG implications. We have a TRX4 and a Gen 7 and it's interesting out on the trails and crawling. There are many obstacles that one or the other will cake walk through and the other struggle. It's never the case that one is better at everything. You are right that it's very subjective. I'd like my next rig to be more to the scale side with straight axles. I love my TRX4 Bronco but the portal benefits aren't enough to want it on everything. 👍👍

Great Video, I have both straight and portal, with the straight you have to be careful and hit the obstacles with a right or left tire not to bottom out on the the center of the rear end housing also less parts and like you say very scale, outside of that go to town !

Great video very informative

Use them when the course calls for it. It's like setting up any other suspension or gear change due to track or trail conditions. I run both kinds and have purpose vehicles. Multi link and locked diffs levels the playing field some between the two. Then, it's a matter of choosing the right tire. If LCG and scale isn't a concern, a wider straight axle can gain diff clearance pretty quick with taller tires.

It all comes down to what you want to spend and the end function of your rig. What you gain in one area you may lose in another. Some times a small gain is not worth a greater loss in another area when it comes to crawling.

Watched the whole video.. Thanks for Info's... Like and Subscribed...

Both. Variety is good. Depends on the truck. What may be great for one, might not be great for another.

For climbing i choose my portal axle truck... For rocky road i choose straight axle...

love my gen 8 pack kit with the portal axles i also have a gen7 pro with straight axles

Love the video, that is some great info. I would love to see an in depth running comparison on a small diffed straight axle like an ar44 vs traxxas's portals. If I am not mistaken there is 12mm difference in the clearance between the two axles when on same the same tires. I struggle with trying to determine if I want my COG to be 12mm higher ALL the time, just so that I can make it over a rock on the occasion that I can't use tire placement to make it over. I watch local comps and it usually the small diffed straight axle rigs that come out on top, but these are usually very experienced drivers that I think would win no matter what they ran, so I can't really say that it's the axle that gave them an edge.

“Berzerker” by AFTER THE BURIAL for the intro, sick m8;)

You dont need portals you want them! Ha ha we run over 20 years with straight axel trail trucks with no issues.But these Traxxas Broncos and Sports climb incredibel out of the Box!I run small rocky rivers where you dont see any rock ,my friend run my SCX 10 ll out with his bone stock Bronco!

Great comparison! I love my traxxas portals. There is one thing I want to add to your conclusion tho. The issue I’ve had with them is higher CG. I compete with a lot of good builders/drivers and they tend to stick to straight axles for that reason. The portals which force everything sit little higher raise the CG and adding more weight is needed to compensate that. It’s little harder to keep the low weight and make it as capable as the other option IMO. Maybe It could be my lack of tuning skill lol. Thanks for the video.

Great video again !! Regarding the Gen8 portals, i see they made the kingpin angle towards the center of the wheel contact patch, like the Axial AR60s, are the Trx4 portals the same or do they have straight up kingpins ? For my part, i've got a custom built portal truck based on old Gmade Portals (from the R1) i had laying around. The Gmade design is reversed from the Gen8/Trx4, the chubs and reduction gearing are part of the axle and only the knuckle arm moves in the front. It's also wider, more like AR60 width. Just like you said, there's pros and cons, i like the fact every bolt is backed by a nut, but the steering angle is not great, more like "scx10v1 with dogbones" type of angles. I've made myself some PETG printed 7 degrees C-hubs for it, even though the steering angle is the same, it turns better because of the added caster.

I’ve used both my trx4 has portal and my sons carisma has straight axles. I noticed my trx4 is a lot smoother going over rock piles at our local course. My son seems to catch a lot more of the edges or little fingers sticking out from rocks. Also from factory the carisma had horrible driveline angles in the rear driveshaft with a 11.4” wheelbase. I had to extend his wheelbase to 12.3” just so it would roll smoother. So for me it’s a win for portals. I’m not much into scale looks so for what we do straight axles aren’t cutting it. Needless to say I’m looking for portals for my sons rig 😂😂😂 or he might be getting a trx4 as well

Great video excellent comparison both have their high points and I guess low points

Hi, excellent video. What are all your stands you have your trucks on please?

Great video. What do you think of the GRC G2 Aluminum Ackerman Mechanism Steering Hub Carrier? The “chub” hang down is almost nonexistent.

Where do you purchase those little yellow jacks from?

I think the lower amount of torque twist is a huge win for portals. Often when climbing, torque twist can limit you to 3 wheels on the ground and in some cases cause roll overs.

I personaly like both. And there for have portal rigs and non portal. Its really situational wich is better. Btw, vanquish vs4-10 axles are much more scale than ar44. Good vid as always 👍

Hmm interesting. I’ve still trying to decide whether to get the Gen8 or the new Element Sendero coming out in a few weeks.

At the portals a small planetary gear set?

for rock crawling low center of gravity is by far more important

Good video

Could u give a link to the parts u have on that gen7 front straight axle. I didn't see a video on it

I personally prefer portal axles the reduction of torque twist far out weighs any drawback they may have in my opinion. I've got a trx4 defender chassis and a scx10.2. I recently put a set of trx4 sport portals under the 10.2. Combined with a 80mm set of gmade transition shocks at full droop and some brass up front it's a monster. Great video 2 thumbs up from me.

Great video - thank you. Personally, I enjoy the challenge of having to actually negotiate an obstacle with straight axles rather than being able to simply drive over them with portals (although the hole you showed is a good example of how this can work in reverse). Also, in my experience the lower CoG you get with straight axles is overall more advantageous than the higher clearance you get with portals.

I'm a scale nut , so I'm all about the straight axles. I might try some portals if I were to build a Unimog or some other exotic vehicle.

Planning to get my first RC Crawler. Do you think it is better to get a TRX4 Sport RTR or an Axial SCX10 II and add aftermarket portals? Someone told me aftermarket portals are much better than the stock TRX4 portals. Price-wise I figure the cost would be fairly close. Also, what do you think of the Brazin LCG chassis on a TRX4?

I have a few vehicles and the portals aren't as performance based as I thought getting into a rig with portals. I have a gen 8 on 109mm rc4wd iroks and an scx10 2 on 95mm killerbody mickey T's and the scx10 2 does almost everything the scout did stock. now my gen 8 is a beast but I'm making it into a mountain recovery rig. I love all solid axles! trucks are my thing! lol

I personally think that they are both good

I love portal they are a pita to maintenance but they are way better for crawling and more noob friendly and are really good in mud and snow

Thank you for the info,I have both,but I like the portals better👍👍

I'm goin to call it a tie on both trail rocks and paper and video

very good comparison video. But I'm brave and say 95% can be avoided in such a scenario. (10:54 ) A comparison in soft ground would be interesting or in a lateral position, steep slope. But you do not need to mess up the trucks in mud or sand. On the whole, I agree with you in every point, there are advantages and disadvantages for both desings. 👍

I've figured out a way to remove all of the torque twist in a gen 7. Buy a gen 8

How is performance and clearance a matter of opinion??? Geometry, clearance and performance is not preference. So don't be afraid to state fact and keep straddling to issue to please everybody.

As for clearance just slap on a set of 2.2 tires....... 8^))

Scale vs. crawling...actually no real world crawler can climb like RC car does. If we want a super crawler, should buy something like dlux fab's kit car, a real artificial spider worm :)

I just figured that this is all about RCs 😔 ( that explains the background ) not sure if the information in this video still applies to real trucks or not my main goal looking for portals is overall extend life on the front suspension ( no off-roading no rock crawling ) since having less stress on driveshaft and bearing & a more straight motion but not sure if by doing this I'm just adding more parts to repair in the future ( so the wear that i save on the bearing will appear on a different part of the portals )

Those RC cars probably cost more than my truck lol

Whats your opinion on these bad boys? www.rccrawler.com/forum/traxxas-trx-4/606494-trx4-small-c-hubs-ackerman.html

Way better" natural" cog with a portal as it weights much more down low .

Portal axles is just a selling gimmick... A method to boost sales.... 8^)

First. Lol.

Portal axle should be named gay axle because it's not straight.

Man you should have stayed with the AR44s. You went from a straight axle to a portal. What did you do for gearing?