I love this thing!

 

Must. Have.

 

Those are some awesome looking rigs, especially that "Jeep". That articulation is insane. Independent suspension done like that is nuts. I'd assume there's an individual driveshaft for each wheel or something, or maybe a differential between the front and rear on each side.

 

Looks like a modified portal axle; driven at the hub. No driveshaft. No differential. Indestructible.

 

Ah, that makes sense. Absolutely insane looking rig. Looks heavy as hell too. I'd love to take it for a spin.

 

Ok, you can have the jeep. I will take the Ripsaw! They probably cost the same

 

Sounds like a deal to me! That thing was insane too, but I'm never in enough mud for that.

 

It appears as though you have rather large ambitions for the ol' Disco. Mine is a daily driver in Dallas so I could never make serious modifications, UNLESS... I could affordably obtain a full set of bolt-on, drop-down portal axles. I think they cost like 10,000 and that's if someone has a design on file for the discovery. Too much for my income, but would allow the use of larger tires without having to upgrade diff gears, stock axles/housing, driveshafts, engine, transmission, or even the stock suspension. Bolt on portals, 35" tires, extended fender flares. I think that's about it.

TIBUS Offroad Engineering

 

Yep, quite large. Mine is a daily driver driver also, but I figure what the hell.

Portals would be really nice. I know of a caged disco on 37s with portals. Mean looking rig to say the least. I'm going to stick with stock axles, add some 4.11 gears at some point with either limited slips or detroits, and then upgrade to chromoly shafts whenever I break both sets of axles I have. I figure that with the 35s will be a good match and I wont have to trim too much. I'm on 3.5" right now. I may end up exchanging the rear springs since its just spacers in the back right now, but other than that and moving the axle back the only suspension change I plan to make is dropping the shock mounts and getting longer shocks. Then ill leave my swaybar setup as is (no rear, front disconnect) and I figure it should have good enough road characteristics. I'm really excited to really jump into this project.

I don't know if I've posted this in the thread yet, but obviously ill have to convert to a panhard in the rear when I move the axle back. My plan is to actually just use the front panhard off of my parts truck as well as the stock mounts. I figure that should make it strong enough and its already got the bend to clear the diff.