Many pathfinder owners got excited when ARB released their air locker for the R230 rear differential of the (R51) 2005 – 20012 Nissan Pathfinders, until they realized that there is a carrier split and the locker isn’t compatible with our U.S. models. Just in case you’re new the drive train world I’ll explain the problem in a nut shell. Inside your differential, you have 2 gears that must mesh together properly, a ring gear and a pinion gear. the ring gear is bolted to a part called a carrier, which in this case is the locker itself. When installing a locker, the installer must adjust it’s position to hold the ring gear in the proper place so the gears mesh properly. (Are you still with me? This should all make send in a moment) Larger adjustments of the carrier or locker position will need to be made when making more drastic gear ratio changes and in some differentials there simply isn’t enough adjustment to accommodate all ratios. In these cases, you simply need to get a different carrier or locker to hold the ring gear in a different position where you regain adjust ability. (I hope that all makes sense, and if not I’d be more than happy to explain it further if you contact me)
So, the current ARB locker for the R230 Rear differential is for the 3.54 and up ratios which we simply didn’t have here in the U.S. All of our differentials would require here would require a 3.36 and Down ARB Locker, which at this time doesn’t exist. (had the issue been the other way around, we’d be able to get away with a ring gear spacer but the ring gear is already too close to the pinion when using the currently available locker. this causes the mandatory change of the locker) However, due to the fact that there is a relatively minor design change of the current R230 ARB Locker required, and the fact that our previous locker project for the Titan/Armada/V8-Pathfinder front M205 differential was a success, ARB is listening and working with me. Instead of the 50+ pre-orders that is typically required for a new locker, they have lowered the bar to 20. And because I simply want this to go through, If we have 16 serious people that are willing to order at the same time, I’ll put an extra 4 of these on the shelf to make the order of 20 to ARB.
If you own a 2005-2012 Nissan pathfinder and have been wanting to put an ARB air locker in the rear differential, now is your chance to speak up. Please leave a comment at the bottom of this post indicating if you would seriously buy one of these units in the next Month, within 6 Months, 6 months to 1 year, or Over one year.
Thank you for feedback and I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of response we get on this and hopefully make this new locker a reality.
-Steven Lutz
President
Rugged Rocks LLC