Modded Tundra Element IFS w/portals

[Rock solid]

When the new IFS kit came out I knew that It had to be part of my next build, this will be a slow build so bare with me. As it sits now half of the front end mods have been made( mostly to make sure it was doable before I made an ass of m yself)
Aside from the ifs kit all the parts were purchased separately. I did not have an element kit awaiting destruction. So my current parts list is as follows.
1- Element IFS kit
2- Element chassis rails
3- Element transmission skid plate
4- vanquish vs410 pro sliders
5- Traxxas trx4 rear portal axle assembly
6- Axial Capra front portal housing
7- axial capra portal gears and stub shafts
8- axial shocks
9- fast Eddy 5x11x4 bearings
10- fast Eddy 4x11x4 bearings
11- fast Eddy 5x13x4 bearings
12- Savox sg1230 servo
13- Tamiya Tundra front can and grill
14- many more random parts to join.
This will be an ever-changing project as most are but these parts are definite. Links transmission wheels and tires will come later. Mainly I am attempting to gain the proper clearance that an ifs system is supposed to give, I feel the element kit is very nice and a great value but needs some tweaking to meet my personal preference.
I knew 2 things before I put the kit together 1 it desperately needed some caster added because flat caster on a front end is not ideal for crawling or anything really, and 2 that with added height of the portal that the entire kit was going to have to be raised in the frame rails. So if my pictures look goofy it is for these reasons. So here is how it sits, I will post better pictures of how I mod the front portals as I do the right side.

[rkj__]

Interesting. Looking at your left vs right photo, what really stands out to me is how the lower ball joint sits very far below the hub / axle on the stock kit. When you analyze the smaller details, it does show that the Element IFS kit is very much NOT a blank slate design. It's a conversion kit, that places high priority on reusing, or maintaining compatibility with existing parts.

[Rock solid]

With tires on you can see the huge difference in clearance under the control arm over stock.

[Rock solid]

Here's the portal awaiting modification. There were many ways of how I could have gone about this but ultimately I wanted clearance. Picture 2 you can see how I drilled and sanded the inner part of the knuckle so the lower arm could be mounted higher up.

[Rock solid]

The axle shaft had to be ground square to fit through the first portal gear, luckily as long as your careful a nice tight fit can be made. Next I ground the back of the knuckle flat and right up close to the inner bottom bearing so the lower control arm can clear. Then I drilled a hole through the outer portal cover so the element shaft could extend all the way through, I did this so I could use a nut too keep the stub shaft in placeunder suspension droop. I assembled the peices and the ran the 4mm nut on backwards so the lock was facing the bearing. I then chopped off the remaining axle length just behind the nut.

[Rock solid]

Here's the final results of the modified portals

[Rock solid]

Both sides mounted with tires on

[durok]

I think I got a crick in my neck...

But that's seriously thinking outside the box, man!

I'd just drive it very carefully for a while, not sure how strong that area that was cut away will be under load off road.

What would be wicked is if this worked out really well and you teamed up with someone to put some parts out in a higher-strength material, with added reinforcement gussets if needed.

I really wish RPM would jump in the crawler world, but I'm sure they need many parts to be sold to make it worthwhile releasing new product.

Specific crawler parts just won't sell nearly as many as Traxxas Slash A-arms!

[soze]

That's a pretty cool idea!

[HumboldtEF]

Yeah nice work! I was also a bit curious if a IFS and portal combo would be possible.

[JatoTheRipper]

Very cool! Nice job!

[OSRC]

That looks great! Very nice work!

[Rock solid]

Thanks guys, so got a little further tonight, I mounted up the rear axle onto the chassis, I used some leftover capra stainless links and I used a rear axle from a trx4. After some light math I discovered the trx4 portal axle actually had slightly lower gearing than my front end with the portal and this will allow some minor overdrive, I suppose if I want even more i can gear up my portal gears or gear down the trx4 axle with underdrive gears. I am still un decided on my transmission but it will either be an old rc4wd r2, or a trx4 transmission, hi/low could be fun. I also temporarily mounted the body just for visual

[twade984]

Badass!

[Topher Builds]

Agreed with everyone else. Very cool build to see come together. Nice work and hope we get to see it doin some work!

[Jim85IROC]

awesome work!

[meatmonkey]

This is genius. Great work. Can't wait to see how it holds up.

I was disappointed in the lack of clearance under the lower arms with the enduro conversion, but you've certainly solved that.

[Szczerba]

Yup. Very nice improvisation fabrication!

[B-MOW71]

I like what I'm seeing here! Great job!

Can't wait to see more!

[nedmo]

Wowee!! That is super cool!