Maybe I’m missing the boat, I don’t see how an Aluminum case portal can survive a few slides directly into big rocks as was even demonstrated in the op video.
Straight cut gears are always stronger than helical gears. The Gen 3 portals all have sealed roller bearings, and the bearings are sealed internally, and not on the axle or output shaft. Venting would allow water, dust, mud, and other debris into the case. You have the option of going with a cast steel case or a billet aluminum case. The billet aluminum is stronger than steel, and both are stronger and more impact resistant than cast iron.
These things are built to take a serious beating. We took an old concept, portals on farm equipment, and perfected it. The whole point behind them is to take stress off your axles, diff, and trans, make your rig bigger, badder, and tougher than before, and allow you to beat the snot out of it, and go places you never could have imagined going before using them. I've never seen one break on a Pioneer. I've seen some stripped gears and busted boxes in the past, but if you can get that far...it means it saved you from destroying your diff or trans.
With portals you'll see rock climbers are running 35" plus tires, mud guys are running 50" plus tires, and trail guys are hitting trails that only built Jeeps and rock bouncers could hit before. They make the impassible look easy. But...again, they're not for everyone. Just the hardcore.
