Our buddy, Goose Bellows, has been riding on portals for a while now, and he rides hard. If anybody’s going to put SuperATV’s GDP Portal Gear lifts through the wringer, it’s him.
I purchased SuperATV’s Gear Driven Performance 6” Portals for my 2014 Can-Am Maverick XRS awhile ago and the ride quality, mud holes I can conquer, and trail riding is unmatched.
The first year of owning my Maverick I was running 34” Terminators, 34” Outback Max, and 35” Superior Traction with just a bracket lift and it did pretty well. I noticed one of the issues was once I started going to the bigger tires, even with aftermarket clutches I felt I needed a lower gear to properly turn the tires. At the time, the only way to get a gear reduction was to install a Can-Am 6×6 transmission in the Maverick. I did not like that option because my transmission was doing just fine.
I had first seen the SuperATV Gear Driven Performance 4” Portals while I was deployed in the Middle East, Active Duty USAF, and they were an interesting concept to me. Prior to owning a SxS, I have always done big mud trucks and had to run big drop transfer cases. The portals are essentially a mini transfer case at the wheels. At first I was skeptical of them just because the leverage of everything being extended out and downward. It does put a lot of pressure on the ball joints, steering, pretty much everything except for the axles but you can’t beat having axles staying at stock angles.
Well by the time I was returning home from my deployment, SuperATV had come out with their 6” Portals and I had to have them. I have always wanted to be one of the biggest and baddest rides out there in the mud truck world and I wasn’t going to stop there. Once I purchased my 6” portals, I bought 9.5r22s BKT 171s. That is a 40” tractor tire on a Maverick. The best part was I was only running a 3” bracket lift and the 6” portals.
The portal install on my Maverick was pretty easy. I would have to say the most difficult part was removing and installing the longer brake lines.
The first ride with the portals was actually at the filming of a local country rap singer’s music video. The song and video wasn’t the greatest but it was a pretty fun day. The biggest mud hole at the venue was a cake walk. Other SxS’s on 34s and 35s were having to give it all it had to get through the hole and I barely had to try because of the 45% gear reduction and 40” tires.
Most people know I ride very hard and I expect my equipment to perform at all times. One of the things I like doing is jumping or riding out wheelies over hill crests. At the end of the filming, I gave it a shot on a small hill side and I was amazed at how I was able to pull the front tires up so easily and that nothing broke, cracked, or bent when I came back down on all 4 wheels. From that point on, I knew the portals could handle most of what I was going to ask of them.
Anyways, back to my Maverick and portals. Since receiving the new portals, I have had 0 issues with them. My Maverick has been through hell. Anywhere from being jumped, rolled, driven through lakes/rivers, giant mud holes over the doors, and even been so stuck that it took 3 winches all snatched blocked to pull me out. The strength and durability of these portals are astonishing.
I have heard stories from other people saying they hate the portals and even SuperATV as a company. Me on the other hand, their products and customer service are top-notch. Everything has a breaking point, we all know this, but with how hard I ride, the portals and quite honestly all of SuperATV’s products are great quality and they stand behind them 110%.
If you would like to see pictures and videos of just how hard I ride with my 6” Portals, feel free to take a look at my Instagram @Buckin_Crazy or hashtag #lilBuckinCrazy
Thanks for the review Goose!
