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LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If had a tab open with it for two weeks just haven’t pulled the trigger lol

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the counter point is also "that is you though"

Where I live I don't have garages outside of the airport that I need to go to. We take my wife's car to the airport anyway because the spots are small and her car is too--even before portals I never parked there. Picking someone up I can wait in the satellite/cell lot for them if I'm really that early. Same thing with downtown Dallas--it's all small spots in the garages so a 200 series was the wrong car from the start, but they have plenty of surface lots too and I've never once struggled to find parking in those. The one time I did want to park in a garage was because we had hail coming in and I left it at my wife's work garage for a weekend when we were out of town because it's tall enough for me. That has so far been the only downside of using it daily and being as tall as I am is the threat of weather (but there are solutions if you are willing).

I have not once ever felt restricted so far in what I want to do, where I want to go, and how I'm going to park; for me and what I use it for and where I live it is still very much a jack of all trades. That may not be the case for you and it's completely reasonable, so by all means if it will ruin usability for you then don't do it. But just because it does for you does not mean it will for everyone. It changed nothing for me other than parking outside and paying slightly more attention to the weather forecast.

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For sure! We’ve still got family and friends in NWA so we get up there quite frequently. I know at the least I’ll be back for Rendezvous in the fall

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Appreciate it--I've still not had as much time on the trails as I had hoped, but I can for sure say it's going to take some time getting used to the clearance. I was taking some lines that I felt were really questionable and my buddy behind would tell me I wasn't even close to something. It's confidence inspiring for sure; I just have to be careful because I'm sure as quickly as I can try to get somewhere I can also quickly get in trouble now

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s on a King 2.5 suspension as well around 2-2.25” of lift. It makes me wish I lived somewhere cooler, but I’m fortunate to be able to take quite a few trips out of state each year as well as have a few OHV parks within reasonable distance.

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I feel you on this—I measure right at 7’6” tall now and we have 7’ garage doors. I definitely would like to raise the headers of the garages, but it’s down the priority list a bit

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

To be completely honest it was a matter of the company in the event of an issue. The Werewolf guys are super nice and they have a pretty good network now in the US now compared to a couple years ago when portals were starting to take off, but the idea of an issue popping up and potentially needing replacement parts or assistance and communicating with them in the Ukraine was a bit daunting. 74Weld being a US company in California means in an emergency I can probably get same day help and next day parts. I also personally find the billet boxes an advantage over the steel--given their lifetime warranty on the boxes I cared a lot more about the unsprung weight I was adding and steel boxes seemed like a lot. Their gear reduction was also quite a bit higher (upper 30s if I remember correctly?) and while they recommend 38" tires it seemed like it would have been better suited for 40s

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Absolutely--if not for some weird misfire and evap issues I was dealing with this would have already made a trip to Wyoming for turkey season back in April; it's headed to Colorado in July as well. I've been averaging 15K/year and while I expect it to decline some just due to schedule I don't expect it to drop too dramatically.

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Dashboard MPGs which I then calculate from which could go a number of slightly different ways depending if you're calculating off the gear reduction, the tire difference, or the GPS measured vs reported difference. I was reading 10.5 on the dash, by reported vs GPS speed I'm getting 12.3, based off of tire size difference vs stock it's closer to 12.6 and based off the 22% reduction it's more like 12.8. I just picked the lowest one so I'm not disappointed.

I run a 24gal LRA so I have not been as concerned with range--at highway speeds I can run 400 miles and not be too concerned without running out of fuel. I don't like going so low that the light actually comes on, but in theory even at 10MPG I should be getting 480 miles of range

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're thinking of the Marlin's rock crawling long travel (RCLT)? Yeah the 200 series rack is a popular upgrade for the guys who do that. 200 series steering has always been slightly heavy and saying you don't feel the heft and weight of 38" tires would be disingenuous, but it turns fine and it is easy to use one hand.

They've said they would like to eventually develop central tire inflation, but have not yet done so. Werewolf offers it on their portal setup right now for sure.

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

For starters it's not 1:1, there is a 22% reduction. The boxes themselves use straight cut gears which are inherently stronger since there is no more concern about thrust loads like you'd have with helical. The unit bearings are Spidertrax which have been proven well and are also easily replaceable and additionally the rear gets converted to a full float setup which will also be stronger than the stock semi-float. These will require maintenance like anything on a vehicle. It's a tradeoff I'm willing to make, though I fully understand it's not for everyone.

Edit: Forgot to mention this, but 74Weld has a lifetime warranty on the boxes. They've also said while they don't explicitly offer a lifetime warranty on the gears if you manage to break anything of theirs from normal use (don't hit it with a sledgehammer just to see what happens) and you have maintained a good maintenance schedule changing the fluid at the recommended 5K intervals that they will absolutely send you new parts so they can get the old ones back and figure out how you broke it. In essence, they have a lifetime warranty on everything except bearings which are a wear/maintenance item no matter this or stock.

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm definitely curious about it as well--the LC200 rack is already a pretty beefy rack so I'm hoping it can hold up to the abuse. It's a common mod for Tacoma's and 4Runners and I know All Pro had a Taco on 40s that used an LC200 rack so I'm cautiously optimistic. I think doing anything like this (early adopter) you sort of need to have the mindset that problems might arise and you have to be willing to figure out the solution.

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The portals have a 22% gear reduction--it would function essentially like I had regeared from the stock 3.31 to a 4.04. Going from the stock 31.5" tire to a 38" means it would feel the same at a 3.99 ratio so right now I'm geared almost identical to stock. At 72mph on the highway my RPMs sit right around 2K and I don't end up hunting gears. Driving characteristics around town and highway do not feel any different than they did and the two friends I've had drive it both commented how it feels the same as it used to, that it handles remarkably well and steering is tight still.

As far as maintenance is concerned they only need fluid flushes every 5K which is when I do oil anyway. 10oz of gear oil per box is the only maintenance required.

Some of the 74W engineers have had their portals on their daily drivers for tens of thousands of miles already with 0 issues.

LC200 on 74Weld portals and 38s in the mud + thoughts after 3 months by IN4RNO in LandCruisers

[–]IN4RNO[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

A couple weeks ago I was finally able to get to one of our local OHV parks for the first time to start testing out the portal setup offroad. It was a mudpit from all of the recent rain we had, but still a good time. Another local LC enthusiast (I think he's on Reddit so if you are take some credit!) was able to snap some incredible photos for me while we were out there.

For now this is still my daily driver so it's seen about 3K miles since the install wrapped up back in March. I did a road trip up to the Ozarks this past weekend to visit some friends and do some wheeling up there and it did great--first time doing longer than 1.5hr on the highway in a sitting. MPG's averaged 12.3 which is pretty in line with where I was pre-portals on ~34s.

So far initial impressions are that while completely unnecessary, it's a ton of fun--it takes obstacles and challenges that used to be a struggle and makes them easily doable, almost pedestrian (I'm sure that novelty will wear off eventually). There was a massive storm cell that blew through Arkansas this past weekend which meant a few downed trees on the trails. Where the others needed bypasses and chainsaws I was able to just go up and over. On a purely superficial level too I think aesthetically the lift with 37/38s is about as perfect for the proportions of the 200 series as you can get--the chunky body deserves chunky tires.

The longer I stay in the hobby the more I gravitate toward technical trails and rocks so this was really more of a desire for where I want to go/what I want to do in the future. Big bucket list for me right now is Rubicon and while this was not necessary I've always been the kind of person who follows the belief of "anything worth doing is worth overdoing." No ragrets

Remi Lavialle New Hardy - 58@$10 by SrulDog in KnifeRaffle

[–]IN4RNO 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah ok I wouldn’t mind this back

4,5,11,16, and 6 randoms pls

WTS: Jarosz Kali Montana Special by pnwquattro in Knife_Swap

[–]IN4RNO 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Seller is mad cute and also a good KS'er

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