The original posting of this article is here on 4WD&SU Magazines website:
http://www.4wdandsportutility.com/tech/0810_4wdweb_2005_nissan_xterra_air_locker/index.html
Horsepower is nothing without traction, which is why many Nissan Titan, Frontier and Xterra owners have been waiting for a new locker option. The M226 is a variant of the Dana 44 and buying your truck from Nissan fitted with the e-locker has been the only way to get a manually activated locker. If you have been in search of a locker for your Titan, Xterra or Frontier, you may be in luck. The Xterras and Frontiers with the Off-Road package came with an e-locked M226 rear end. Those with a manual transmission also have the M226 rear end, but it’s has nothing but an open carrier. The ring gear was also transferred from the stock carrier to the ARB air locker.
A few weeks ago I got a call from ARB’s marketing department letting me know about their new M226 air locker, one of which was flown in early from Australia and they wanted to know if Rugged Rocks Off Road would be willing to help them out with the first M226 Locker install in North America and let them know how it goes making note of anything special that had to be done. Of course I jumped on this opportunity right away. Being that I didn’t have an Xterra myself to do this install on, I extended this opportunity and called Jesse Feng, an owner of an ’05 Xterra S 4×4. I met Jesse through the Rugged Rocks forum, he had been wheeling with a few of the other guys on the forum and judging by the pictures he had posted of his rig on the trail along with the body damage, a bashed in muffler, scuffed up sliders, dented rear bumper, scraped up rear diff, bent trailer hitch and scarred up leaf shackles; I decided that lack of traction was the only thing holding this guy back on the trail and could really benefit from the new ARB M226 Air Locker. Continue reading “Nissan ’05 Xterra M226 ARB Air Locker Install Article”