Frontier fragile front diffs

[bigreen505]

I'm kind of kicking the tires on a new truck. I'm intrigued by the Frontiers, at least on paper, but I keep hearing about the fragile front diffs and how you need to replace them with Titan diffs, axles and gears. Where is the line between fact and fiction?

 

[Co-opski]

Are you going to wheel it? What about getting the front tires spinning in the air and then coming down on them? I've not heard of any front differentials blowing with normal 4x4 use. But I'll step aside and let any 2nd gen folk reply now.

 

[mike r]

I'm not sure if fragile is the right way of putting it, replacing with the titan diff makes it more capable.
I will most likely do mine when the warranty runs out.
try visiting thenewx and club frontier

 

[bigreen505]

It will be wheeled in all sorts of terrain and I can be pretty certain that it will be heavy. Think of a build very close to TacoDoc's, but on a Frontier. Tire size will probably be a mid-33" tire like a 285 or 255.

 

[Peck]

They're not fragile, but they're not even remotely bulletproof. You just have to be a smart wheeler. Meaning stay off the throttle as much as possible -- most breakages have occurred due to liberal use of the skinny peddle. It's just a really big torque load when your wheels are free spinning and then catch traction.

But that doesn't mean the Frontier is weak or that you need to baby it. I beat the snot out of mine.

 

[RMP&O]

Seems like you guys are talking about axles not the actual diff center or 3rd member.

If you are worried about axles....buy a set of these and forget about it forever!

https://www.rcvperformance.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=26&products_id=121

 

[bigreen505]

Seems like you guys are talking about axles not the actual diff center or 3rd member.\

No, I'm asking about 3rd member -- both R&P and case. There are a lot of reports of blown up diffs online and a lot of them are on trucks that have never been off pavement -- not just "hold my beer and watch this" stuff. As I said, I'm kicking the tires on a new truck and the 330,000 mostly happy miles we put on the old WD21 Pathy has me thinking Nissan again. From what I am hearing, the Frontier is a bomber truck with a driveline that is not quite up to the task. One theory that has been kicked around is that the sway bar torques the diff enough to screw up backlash, ultimately grenading the diff. I'm just trying to find reality.

 

[drbandkgb]

The diffs do crack.. under retarded amounts of load.. Ive seen many on the newX with them cracked on the Xterra.. But I feel most were due to dumb wheeling.. The Titan swap does add strength and it stretches the front wheel base out.. Looks good on a lifted truck.. Try clubfrontier.org or Xterranation.org for more info...

 

[XterraVT]

I've wheeled the Heck out of the R180 ( front diff in the X and Fronty ) and had not a single issue in 5+ yrs over wheeling.
My X was running 33s for 3 of those years and 35s for the last 2yrs. I've run Blues and Blacks at Rausch Creek in PA and Wheeled Moab 3 yrs in a row with a lot of wheeling in between.

I'm with Peck and drbandkgb on this one. You have to be a Smart wheeler and stay off the Skinny pedal.
You can head over the web sites listed above and read up on it. You will get mixed feeling about the Diff on the boards and a lot will steer you towards Titan Swapping. My feeling is that the X/ Fronty are really great trucks and they have a ton of potential for being and EXPO trk in North America ( you would have a heck of a time finding parts for these overseas ). Head out and compare pricing on some other great trks and you'll see that you'll get the Best Bang for your Buck with a New Nissan.

Oh, And ARB decided to make a Locker for the R180 Front Diff on the X and Fronty over the Titan M205.

Food for thought

Good luck with the decision making

DaveP

 

[ryandavenport]

^^This man here is correct, as well as Peck and drb. Don't try to show off and don't be stupid and you shouldn't have issues with the front diff. It's the spinning tire that catches that causes problems. You can do a Titan swap without widening the truck, you just need the Pathfinder v8 half shafts, which are crazy expensive.

 

[drbandkgb]

PS.. Nissan made the last V8 Pathy last Tues... I was sad all day at work

 

[bigreen505]

Good to know. I know a lot of early UZJ100 owners used the ARB to strengthen the front diff on those.