Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Here is pictures of a fully custom built L/R called the Tomcat. This was done by guys in Poland and is built for rallies. I thought I would show you guys this truck as it is pretty sweet. Also I am curious if any of you can idetify the axles/diffs under it?? They are portals but I am unsure what from. They are not Mog diffs and if Volvo diffs they are modified.

Take a look....

the portals...real nice disc brakes.

front diff

rear diff

motor

off-road

off-road

more off-road

last one....

They are Maxi-Drive bolt on portals. They are very expensive ($12000AUD for four) so there aren't many people running them - so not much info. They have four gears inside (2 intermediate gears) and bolt straight on to Land/Range Rover axles.

Made by Maxi Drive Engineering, Carrara (Near Brisbane) Australia.

Interesting battery location.

They are Maxi-Drive bolt on portals. They are very expensive ($12000AUD for four) so there aren't many people running them - so not much info. They have four gears inside (2 intermediate gears) and bolt straight on to Land/Range Rover axles.

Made by Maxi Drive Engineering, Carrara (Near Brisbane) Australia.

Ok, thanks for awnsering my question. No wonder I didn't reconize them. They look pretty high quality and the vented disc is just plain sweet. But no wonder very few people use them for that price...you can buy at least one nice truck for that much $$$ if not several!

Curious though...if spending 12k on the portal hubs are you creating a stronger Rover diff? I know a portal hub reduces torque on the diff center and axle thus overall making it less likely to break and also less wear & tear. Isn't the diff one of the weaker points in a Rover?? At least compared to say a Dana 60 or a Nissan H260???

...'Tomcats' come from Tomcat Motorsport in UK (formerly Bowler Engineering...??)

They are engineered to all latest regs as they are updated, but their main feature is to maintain the L/R silhouette (Series 1 in their case) to
comply with aspects of the ARC regs for the National competitions.
(....which exclude non-L/R based specials)

Yes portal hubs do in effect create a stronger diff, axles, CV's etc. In the case of the Maxidrive portals that is 30 % stronger. (1.3 :1), but the swivel housing are under more stress due to the extra leverage. I believe Mal Story has a modification whereby he can make a new double ended bottom swivel pin and fit an extra swivel bearing further down to provide extra support.
But I could not see it on your photos. I dont think it was part of his standard kit.
Bill.

'Tomcats' come from Tomcat Motorsport in UK (formerly Bowler Engineering...??)

Really?? If true this I was also not aware of....I was under the impression this L/R was custom built by Land Serwis in Poland. Must be very very expensive if built by a company and not custom made in a Poland shop. Got a link??

Yes portal hubs do in effect create a stronger diff, axles, CV's etc. In the case of the Maxidrive portals that is 30 % stronger.

Thanks Bill...I was fairly sure this was the case with portals. Do you think it would be the same with an independant suspension portal such as my Pinzgauer??

Yes the same principal applies to the Pinzgauer, but the portal gear ratio is around 2:1, so the diffs, CV's etc are under half the stress compared to direct drive, non hub reduction designs. Because Pinzgauers tend to lift wheels alot off road there are many occasions where all the drive torque is being transmitted to only 2 or even 1 wheel so hub reduction gives the drive train an easier time.

Bill.

RMP&O wrote:'Tomcats' come from Tomcat Motorsport in UK (formerly Bowler Engineering...??)
Really?? If true this I was also not aware of....I was under the impression this L/R was custom built by Land Serwis in Poland. Must be very very expensive if built by a company and not custom made in a Poland shop. Got a link??

most people build the kit themselves...
www.bowler-offroad.com/

hey thanks for the link...cool stuff, learn something new everyday!

daddylonglegs wrote:I believe Mal Story has a modification whereby he can make a new double ended bottom swivel pin and fit an extra swivel bearing further down to provide extra support.
But I could not see it on your photos. I dont think it was part of his standard kit.

You mean that after spending $12k on portals there are still added extras? I'm not knocking the quality of his work because i know from experience that it's top stuff but you'd think for that kind of cabbage you'd get the whole dice.

[quote="daddylonglegs"]Yes portal hubs do in effect create a stronger diff, axles, CV's etc. In the case of the Maxidrive portals that is 30 % stronger. (1.3 :1), but the swivel housing are under more stress due to the extra leverage. I believe Mal Story has a modification whereby he can make a new double ended bottom swivel pin and fit an extra swivel bearing further down to provide extra support.
But I could not see it on your photos. I dont think it was part of his standard kit.

i think that this is now standard. it has a brace at about 45 degrees coming up from the bottom of the portal. fixed on non steer axles and pivoting on steering axles. the brace was flat plate about 60mm wide and about 6mm thick if my crap memory is any good. it looked simple, efective and quite strong, the bearing on the steer axles was quite big. mal is away at the moment. next time i'm in i'll ask

cheers, serg.

Thanks Serg. If that modification is now part of the kit then I would recommend Maxidrive Portals to the dedicated few who can afford the price. Having spent 200 odd hours constructing my own from second hand gears and other leftover bits and pieces, I think Mals price is quite reasonable. Just check with your local registration authorities to find out if you can legally use them on the road.
Bill.

The braced boxes are indeed part of the new model portals. But the order form runs several pages, where you clarify your exact current setup and what you're aiming for. There is some machining required on spindles etc, and if you want MDE to supply the parts and do all mods, you will rack up some extra cost. It's probably worth it, though.

[quote="Thor"][quote="RMP&O"]'Tomcats' come from Tomcat Motorsport in UK (formerly Bowler Engineering...??)
Really?? If true this I was also not aware of....I was under the impression this L/R was custom built by Land Serwis in Poland. Must be very very expensive if built by a company and not custom made in a Poland shop. Got a link??[/quote]

most people build the kit themselves...
www.bowler-offroad.com/[/quote]

Just reading the July 04 Land Rover World mag which happens to have a an ad for Tomcat Motorsport www.tomcatmotorsport.co.uk which is a different company to Bowlers. Can buy kits from Bowlers, but seem to be able to from Tomcats.
Stu

Either way, they're pretty mean machines!!