ARB Locker for the R180

[RonapRhys]

ARB has just announced that they're offering a front locker for the R180 Diffs found in the Frontiers and Xterras here in the States (and many other Nissan models around the world). Couple of points that have come up in other discussion boards:

• This is incredibly good news for us as it means another vendor is stepping up to support our market.
• The R180 has demonstrated a propensity to blow up. This seems to occur primarily when someone has one wheel spinning at a pretty good clip, another stopped, and then suddenly gains traction with the spinning wheel. This leads to a very significant amount of stress on the diff and the spider gears go. In certain cases, those parts get caught in the ring gear and wedge between that and the case, causing the case to break.
• Having a stronger diff itself may help eliminate this. Since the gears will be less likely to fail it's less likely that the case will blow up or crack. This could lead to two things: 1) the case fails in a new and unique way or 2) something else breaks.
• The current offerings on the site seem to cover everything but the Xterra OR 6spd models, which have 3.69 gears. However, I sent an email to ARB and they replied that they've got those - they've just not imported them yet as they're unsure of demand. If you want one, call/email them.

Initial pricing appears to be in the $1K range. Here's a link to the product page.

 

[bigreen505]

I'm intrigued by this as a Frontier is one of the vehicles I'm considering and the front diff issue gives me reason to look at a Toyota instead. I had a WD21 Pathfinder at it was a great truck, but the new Nissan's don't seem to be built to the same level.

 

[RonapRhys]

Update: ARB has received enough inquiries on the 3.69 geared version (OR 6spd Xterras) that they've decided to bring that version of the locker in as well. No word on when, but it's cool that they'll market those as well.

On the build quality issues, the problems with the diffs seem to involve too much skinny pedal and sudden traction. Many people have been wheeling the R180 in the Xterras with no problems. Can't speak to the Fronties as that may be issues with regards to payload or other factors.

 

[jarmentrout]

Really, don't let the small percentage of breaks disuade you from purchasing a frontier or xterra unless you find yourself doing that sort of off roading such as steep rock crawling with big tires etc. There are plenty of us that use these vehicles for off road and adventure expeditions that have no trouble at all. The low range throttle mapping and ABLS helps tremendously and is part of why these things are so great.

Besides, if you are thinking about an arb locker for the front diff, the arb replaces the entire carrier and weaker spider gears anyway.

 

[Heading Out]

I've broken an R180 in a Nissan 720 4X4 I had some years ago, But I have to say it failed under extreme abuse, in large rocks and TOTALLY my fault.

Having a long History with Datsun / Nissan products running the R series diffs,They're strong reliable units, also, it should be possible to swap in an R-200 with a little work.
oil pan clearance would be the main issue.

 

[Ghost65]

Hey Ron, nice to see you over here too. My profile is DzrtX here, GhostX over on thenewX and elsewhere.

Anywhoo...I agree with you, that the propensity to "blow" an R180 is usually precipitated by driver "emotional" error, and WAY too much skinny pedal.

I only know two people who have done this, Rook, and Dr.Rick over on thenewX, and their situations were completely driver error or inexperience.

This is great news for the N50/Xterra/Frontier/Navara crew, as it strengthens the links that needed it most, while providing the security of a front/rear locked vehicle.

Kudos to ARB! :wings: