Gen7 portal axle notchy, especially after upgrade...

[Everest10Dad]

Hey everyone...I've been away for a while now but am back now trying to get myself ready for spring and camping/crawling season. I was one of the beta testers for the Gen7s last year. I installed them and used them a decent amount last year. When I got the upgrade kit that Redcat sent out I stuck it in the parts box and just got to installing it. Everything fit fine and all and major hat-tip to Redcat for taking it upon themselves to fix some early production issues AND issuing free update kits to their beta testing fans. Very upstanding and appreciated; especially in today's world of 'customer dis-service'. Anyway..both my front and rear diffs are now significantly 'notchier' than before. The portals were always a bit notchy but it got significantly worse. Yes they're lubed with marine grease. Yes I backed the cover screws out and turned them back in just touching the cover, so I do not feel that they're too tight. When the cover is not installed it's certainly smoother. When I push in on the pinion and turn it gets worse. When I pull out on the pinion it gets worse too, so I'm not sure pinion shimming would help. Anybody experienced this with the portal upgrades, portal kits or Gen8s?

[Jim85IROC]

The diff covers are pushing on the bearings because they don't sit in the housing quite enough. I ground a little off of the diff covers where they ride the bearings and the notchiness went away.

[Everest10Dad]

Perfect. I'll give it a try. Thanks again. You've bailed me out before. I'm guessing it won't be the last time either.

[MeGustaChuletas]

I've been contemplating the Portal Axle upgrade. Is this the first run of portal axles? Has this issue been addressed or will I be dealing with the same thing when I order in a couple of weeks?

[Jim85IROC]

There's really no way of knowing. I did notice that the notchiness wasn't present on my Gen8 portals, so I suspect that they rectified the issue.

[Hvrc]

The portal upgrade on the gen 7 was not 100% worked through on all the issues... Steering drag link and pan hard geometry isn't the best, you'll have to space both to get them parallel and working 10x better. The pan hard hits the frame rail at full compression. Then there is the lower link geometry which again, isn't the best. A Vader skid helps this ALOT, or hacking into the stock soft plastic skid (which I have done) and then it looks like the gen 8 skid could be a drop in and go as well with little modifications.
The rear axle inner screws, where the outer housings bolt/thread into the inner/diff housing, like to back out, slowly, there is alot of breakages talked about on their Facebook page that I've seen, so add a dab of ca glue. The lower link mounts loosen up over time (if not shipped loose) and need to be tightened (keep an eye out as it'll strip easy!)
Lastly there is your shock positioning, pretty much stays at the stock weird angle, and fronts get a tad worse with portals. The rears you can move the shock pillow ball to the outside/flip on its mount point, but the front your a wee screwed.
Other than what has been mentioned, the clearance gained from the portals, and steering too, is very welcoming!