Perhaps, as a Ford Bronco owner, you’ve dreamed of owning a monster truck but never thought it was within your grasp. Well, now you’re in luck. It turns out it’s actually possible to turn your Bronco into a monster truck with the help of a little something known as a portal axle kit brought to you by a company based in Europe. 

What is a portal axle?

Portal axles aren’t generally all that well known, but MotorTrend has laid out the basics of what they are and how they work. The main idea behind a portal axle kit is that it uses “a series of gears and a housing mounted on the axle ends or control arms next to the wheel to increase ground clearance under the axle. That raises the centerline of the axle and axle tubes or control arms, raises the differential relative to the wheel mounting surface, and pushes the wheels down relative to the differential and axle tubes or control arms. It’s like free ground clearance at what is usually the vehicle’s lowest point.”

In other words, portal axles give you increased height when you’re off-roading, making you less likely to get stuck when encountering an obstacle. It’s both complicated and quite simple at the same time. Because of their flexibility, portal axles are more common in agricultural use for tractors that can be driven on the road and for military use. 

However, portal axles aren’t commonly installed right off the manufacturing line. According to Jalopnik, two vehicles that come with them pre-installed are the Hummer H1 and the Mercedes-AMG G63 4X4 Squared.

How a portal axle kit turns a Ford Bronco into a monster truck

There are portal axle kits out there for all types of vehicles. If you’re a Ford Bronco owner hoping to take advantage of a portal axle kit to turn your car into a monster truck, Jalopnik has laid out how the kit works. In a nutshell, it adds a small gear set to the vehicle’s axle on each of the four corners to raise the vehicle’s ground clearance by raising the axle above the wheel’s center line. 

The specific portal axle kit mentioned by Jalopnik is manufactured by a company out of Ukraine called Werewolf Tech. The company boasts that the kit requires no major modification and raises the Bronco’s clearance by just over 5 inches. It also increases the vehicle’s stock gear ratio by 35%. 

We should note that the portal axle kit isn’t cheap. It’ll run you around $16,000. However, it does come with a two-year, 50,000-km (31,069-mile) warranty.

A look at the new generation of the Ford Bronco

There’s a lot of variation among different Ford Bronco trims and packages. Still, MotorTrend has laid out some universal basics that clarify why the 2023 Bronco is an excellent candidate for conversion to a monster truck. 

For starters, all-wheel drive is included on all models. Then there’s the engine capable of 275 hp and 315 lb-ft of torque (or 300 hp and 325 lb-ft of torque on premium fuel). The Bronco comes with 10-speed automatic or seven-speed manual transmission. Unsurprisingly, this heavy-duty vehicle doesn’t score great in fuel efficiency, getting only around 18 mpg in the city and 20 mpg on the highway. 

All in all, the Bronco is a powerful vehicle in a prime position for conversion to a monster truck. If you find the thought appealing, a portal axle kit may be your next step.