2022 Nissan Frontier Off Road Upgrades

The 2022 Nissan Frontier Off Road Parts Journey Begins

With the 2022 Nissan Frontier starting to hit the lots of dealerships across the country, there are a lof of questions regarding upgradeability. If you are lookingot build a new, 3rd generation 2022 Nissan Frontier, I’m happy to say that you will definitely want to keep an eye on the Rugged Rocks website for parts that are starting to come down the pipe. Rugged Rocks has been a significant player in the Nissan off road space since 2006. If you have never heard of Rugged Rocks, ask around.. you’ll likely be very surprised.

Nissan Truck Platform Breif History

A few fun facts: The platform code is called the D41US, Similar to how the D21 trucks of the early 90’s progressed into the D22, the D40 truck has progressed to the D41US. This is an american only truck whereas the D23 platform was the next step from the D22 sereis which was only released outside of north america, a few years ago.

Transform your 2022 Nissan Frontier Off Road Capabilities

Make no mistake, there are some similarities between the platforms, but with some key notable upgrades to the D41 compared to the D40. These differences are key to understanding what will be required for the big key upgrades to really make these trucks perform in the dirt and on the trail. At first look, upgrades seem simple but as you look deeper you  start to see a twist to many things. I can’t divulge too much information here, but you can expect Rugged Rocks to be a big player with offering many key off road upgrades to this new 3rd generation Frontier.

Cutting to the chase: https://ruggedrocksoffroad.com/2022-nissan-frontier-offroad-4×4-parts-d41US.html

Definitely follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruggedrocks

The saga continues with the 2022 Nissan Frontier.
Stay tuned and I’ll see you on the trail!
-Steven Lutz

Locking and Re-Gearing Thailand-Built M226 Differentials

The Thailand-built Nissans have a different version of the M226 rear axle than here in the U.S. The Thailand models have 12-ring gear bolts rather than 10. This makes things a little tricky when upgrading to a locker and re-gearing, but it’s not impossible. Rugged Rocks has the 12-bolt version of the locker available.

However, if you plan on re-gearing your axles to a deeper ratio, you will need to use a 10-ring gear bolt locker with the 10-ring gear bolt gears from Rugged Rocks. The 12-ring gear bolt gears in aftermarket ratios are not available. Visit https://ruggedrocksoffroad.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1665 for more details

For an ARB Locker for your Nissan Truck or SUV, visit: https://ruggedrocksoffroad.com/index.php?route=product/search&search=ARB-RD

New Nissan Pathfinder Rear 3.36 & Down ARB Air Locker News (2005 – ’12, R51)

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