Ok, so everyone is a partly correct here about the ability to run portals. You CAN run portals on a JK.......
Here are two of the better known JK's with portal axle ends, and both are Mopar mfg vehicles:
The Immortal
...and the vehicle Dynatrac used for R&D purposes for the factory
I have wheeled with both vehicles, so I know they actually run, and the Maroon Sahara build I have followed on the highway (under its own power, not on a trailer) back to Dynatrac's shop. Now here is the debatable, or grey area, as to wether or not you think it legitimately is a working JK. The JK with portals will not have tone rings, will not have wheel speed sensors, therefore will not have ABS/ESP/Traction Control......but can not only function on the trail, but also still be driven on the street. The limp mode the JK would normally run in (due to the lack of tone rings that the wheel speed sensors detect) does not happen with portals because it is overcome with a simple trail/street fix, which some of you may know already, which I learned this from Mr Dynatrac himself: By simply unplugging either one of your front wheel speed sensor connectors, this will disable the ABS/ESP/traction control and override the limp mode. Now you WILL have all the expected dashboard lights on, but the vehicle is completely drivable. It WILL NOT have ABS, but does still have the complete ability to brake and to stop the jeep safely......how do I know, because I drove the entire 2012 JKX without my front driver wheel speed sensor connected, and then continued to drive my jeep until April of 2013 like this. Did my jeep stop under emergency braking, yes. Did the ABS work, no. But I still drive and race cars that have no electronic drivers aids, so I still know how to threshold brake. This lack of safety nets of having vehicle computers keeping you alive may not be something everyone is willing to drive with, but you can make it home if you go to limp mode.
So in closing; Portals are cool, portals are expensive, portals require maintenance just like a differential, portals are not worth it for the average bubba. Everyone is right, everyone is wrong, I'm just more of both......
