Don't like the adverts?  Click here to remove them

Lena´s Garage LC70 portal axels etc

Lena

New Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2023
Messages
8
Country Flag
ukraine
This is my little project a toyota land cruiser 70 that I am completely renovating and rebuilding.
I have escaped the war in Ukraine in a few minutes and today live a wonderful life in Sweden, but I am absolutely sure that I want a fully packed car that is forever ready to escape if something else happens in the world.
Normally I work as an IT engineer but as you can see I try to learn to build a car in my spare time I spend about 2-3 hours every day building my car
Hi, I'm from Ukraine and have fled the war there and now live more in Sweden. Today I have a toyota hilux as a utility car and I build on my adventure bug out car every day and it is a Toyota land cruiser 70 with portal axles 40 inch tires mm mm mm


-The axles are Toyota's large diff blocks with latches and portal housings with disc brakes both front and rear.
-The engine is a BMW M57-d30 6cyl commonrail diesel
-The frame is extended 22cm to accommodate the plans to come
-The rear axle has been moved back 20 cm so that there will be another body in the back and accommodate 40 inch tires
-The front axle is moved forward about 6cm
-New wheelbase is very close to 100 inches
-Warn winch with synthetic rope and 12000lbs
-ARB Compressor
- 40 13.5 17 tires on 17x9 et-6 rims (New tires not mounted on rims in pictures only 35")
+So much more

The plans are many and a lot will be built according to my plans and from what I can see, my car seems to be a bit unique as I have bits of everything in mine but also a solution that seems to be completely my own solution.
I will have a rear end that is integrated with the driver's cab that can be used overnight when folded out, but at the same time the car will be able to be used as a pickup when it is folded
I will give some updates from time to time


IMG_20230123_193740_2.jpg
IMG_20230124_101721_2.jpg
IMG_20230122_163039_2.jpg

IMG_20221207_132211_2.jpg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20230107_193455_2.jpg
    IMG_20230107_193455_2.jpg
    140.7 KB · Views: 15
Welcome, interesting to see the outcome of this build
 
Last edited:
Welcome! This looks like a fantastic project, I will follow with great interest! GOOD LUCK.
 
Thanks! Yes, of course there will be more posts afterwards.
There will be both pictures and videos about how I, as an IT engineer, learn to weld and start building this car. I spend between 2-3 hours in the garage every day.

I may be building this car for a different reason than most other people who have their cars. I've been bugging out and left my home in a few minutes and realized I left everything behind in the war cards flowers tv sofa yes everything so now I want everything prepared in case something happens one more time I want a car to take me forward if I have to opt out of roads and go offroad, I want the car packed with most things...
The car will also have a trailer, but the most important thing is still in the car. We also have 2 cars in the family that must be ready to go for all situations at once, this is because 2 cars solve so many more problems than just one
The 2nd car is a well equipped Hilux which is also in good order.

I used to laugh about prepping but no longer experience says you have to be prepared for everything
 
Hope for the best and plan for the worst , i look forward to seeing more of your truck Lena :thumbup:
 
Don't like the adverts?  Click here to remove them
Wow, what a great intro video and some even greater welds!

Best of luck in your new adventure.
 
Just a thought as you are building this in the U.K how difficult will it be to get it approved and road legal?
 
No, I don't live in the UK, but right now I live in Sweden, but I come from Ukraine.
In Sweden there is an organization that focuses on converted and home-built vehicles and they do a large engineering inspection and write papers that go on to the Swedish car inspection. If the car is registered in Sweden, I can take it with me wherever I move in the whole world as it will be a moving goods car that is approved in the papers in Sweden.
So I read these rules every day and talk to the inspector about once a month to make sure everything follows the rules.
It will be completely legal and inspected exactly as it looks every day :)
 
Looks like a lot of good work and good welding , this is going to be a much watched build and let's pray you never have to use it for it's intended purpose
Questions .......
Portal axles are cool and give a bit more under diff clearance but also introduce more drivetrain complication and parasitic power loss ....and spares availability
Are the portal hub assemblies held on by more than what looks like 4 bolts ? there doesn't seem to be any dowls or internal registering....
Are you going with solid rear discs ?
Would like to see some pictures of the front hub / portal assy
I guess a lot of your inspiration comes from Artic Cruisers ....
 
Looks like a lot of good work and good welding , this is going to be a much watched build and let's pray you never have to use it for it's intended purpose
Questions .......
Portal axles are cool and give a bit more under diff clearance but also introduce more drivetrain complication and parasitic power loss ....and spares availability
Are the portal hub assemblies held on by more than what looks like 4 bolts ? there doesn't seem to be any dowls or internal registering....
Are you going with solid rear discs ?
Would like to see some pictures of the front hub / portal assy
I guess a lot of your inspiration comes from Artic Cruisers ....
Hi thanks for the compliments on welds, maybe I had a good teacher because I did my first weld about 3 months ago.
I hope I don't have to use it, but I've already fled my home in the middle of a burning war and I never thought that would ever happen either, I woke up in the morning and learned that it was a war, only an hour later we were forced to flee, so it's just to realize that anything can happen to anyone and everyone should be prepared, I wasn't and I deeply regret that.

Answer your questions
Portal axles really give more space under the axles approx. 13cm and with this you get many advantages I think you are missing, I will try to explain the portals do not lift the car in the suspension, i.e. the car behaves pretty much the same as the original car when you have to turn sharply, etc. i.e. it becomes low as original but still high at the same time, the drivetrain is very protected in several ways, on the one hand, you have a gear that sits in the portal housings, which halves the original drivetrain's load (Now this car has nothing left from the original drivetrain) but if it had been an original drivetrain then the power and of course the speed is halved and that in turn means that you can in theory ride with tires twice as big as the original without putting more strain on the engine, cardans, gearboxes than the original (Apart from the fact that the portal housings take little energy then)
In this case, I will have a top speed of 140 km/h when the engine revs up, and that with 40 inch tires, ie about 102 cm high.
Feel free to watch this video and you can see how a land cruiser behaves with portal axles

The loss of engine power is compensated by a slightly tuned BMW M57 D30 engine that leaves well over double the power of an original engine, please watch this video so you can get an understanding of how the engine behaves in a land cruiser YouTube - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club] watch?v=jqRWiU1tS6o&t=13s

The gantry housings themselves are bolted with 9, I think they are m10 bolts and in addition to that there is a flange with a turned strength edge. You can find this construction on military cars with such as the Volvo tgb20 which is a heavy truck (5.7 tons) and there it seems to hold but I'm not going to say that I know, the axle tube itself is 6mm thick and the flange that the portal housing is bolted into is almost solid, goes about 2 cm into the axle tube. The diff bumps come from the rear axle of the hzj78 so there are spare parts there and there are rear axle bumps both front and rear on this one. the portal houses are copies of volvo tgb20.

The brake discs are today solid both front and rear, but there are thoughts of replacing the front brake discs with ventilated discs of the same size at the rear, they can be left as they are.

There is perhaps insperation from artic with and our hilux is an artic at38. But this car is probably not inspired by anything special but more that I am trying to build a strong car that is built according to my own mind and the reason for 40 inch tires is more in the gearing than anything else the car will go too slowly with only 35 inch tires (with 40" =140km/h 87Mph and with 35" 76Mph/122km/h) so actually the choice of the tires is to reduce the engine speed and get some economy in the car, however strange it sounds

When the car is extended, it will have a different rear end so the body will be cut off a bit behind the doors to be replaced by an integrated body similar to this car
But the big differences are
1. my new rear end will be open into the driver's compartment
2. it will be only 170cm long (67 inches) and have a / slanted rear end, i.e. shorter and better clearance angle than the car in the movie + that my car is much higher.
3. It will be a slightly odd solution where you fold one side door with the roof down to the side so the roof forms a floor on the side of the car and it will also be a tent similar to a roof tent but much larger. since the car is 2m wide over the wheels, my bed can be 2m wide and in that way I can have a bed across about 150 cm wide and under the bed I can have drawers and a kitchen that I pull out, in this way I can have a table and chairs inside the house and flats for cooking and refrigerator etc. without it being too complicated at the same time as I can open the side doors when the roof is closed and thereby gain access to kitchen equipment cargo space etc.

I don't know if what I write is understandable?

This car will be a better car in the forest than the artic cars are and it will probably go better on the road with but that's just what I think today, it remains to be seen that unlike the artic cars, this car has axles that last for 40 inches in the forest artic cars are more built for smooth driving in snow. the artick cars are more of a standard car with big tires, this one is all rebuilt, take for example just the steering on this one, which is hydro assistance, it can withstand breaking while the hilux can't be turned on the steering wheel as soon as the wheels are a bit on the rut
 
Thanks for the full answer ....
And excellent english...
I work on Unimog's and other heavy duty off road kit so know all about portal axles and gear reduction hubs etc .
From your description the axles should be tough and strong .....
An interesting rear suspension design using front arms reversed.....
Brilliant build .....
 
Go Lena!....... In a nice way! You have it all figured out ...respect!
 
Found these hidden in an old rusty tin... Angle grinder and pillar drill are good for finding things with..
image000001 (8).jpg


The rear axle, which is certainly newly manufactured, I have now blasted, then painted with black 2-component epoxy primer, then 4 layers of 2-component epoxy paint, so we can hope it can now stay in good condition for a while?
image000002 (6).jpg


A small picture during construction of the combined attachment for the towbar and also the diesel tank
image000003 (6).jpg



Hasplate under development for tank, silencer etc. there is little left 80cm clearance under the tail plate
image000000 (20).jpg


A small film about power steering with hydro assist
 
Interesting build. I worked for Pinzgauer and have done lots with Unimogs too so familiar with Portals, love them. Shall follow with interest.
 
Back
Top