So, I got bored this week and decided to start putting feelers back out to some of the locker manufacturers to see if they are still considering making an auto or manual electronic locker for the 1st Gen Xterras. Figured I'd start a new thread and share some of the responses I've received to date:

Aussie Locker:
Tom,

We appreciate your well thought out presentation on the market for an Aussie Locker for the Xterra vehicle.

We are always looking at the market to decide where to place our new product development resources in our goal of meeting the needs of the off road market, while increasing our market share and company value.

In the past we have developed some unique products for small segments of the market only to be met with tepid sales results. There has always been the vocal individuals who represent a segment of the market, and then the larger numbers who while silent, may or most importantly may not elect to purchase a locker once developed. Sadly this vocal innovator market group is rarely large enough to support the costs of new product development and manufacturing start up. We are not saying that the Xterra market is representative of this group, only that history has shown this be the situation more often than not. For example we have looked at an attempt by the Isuzu market to get an order together for 100 12 bolt lockers to get a new product developed by one of our competitors. Even after working the markets in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada they are still short of the numbers they need. In this instance the competitor has charged a set up charge to be added to the cost of the product as they too have experienced similar market dynamics as we have.

Today we have 4 new product programs in various states of release. The Dana 60 35 spline, Chrysler 8.25, Toyota V6 8" diff and one other model we don't wish to identify at this time. These developments represent a couple of years of development and testing (we test our designs for extended periods in multiple vehicles).

In the past when we looked at the Xterra market, we found that a large number of vehicles were equipped with posi or lsd carriers. The Aussie Locker is not designed to fit into a posi or limited slip carrier so the vehicles we can serve are limited to those with an open differential. We also found that a large number of Xterra owners are daily drivers and while they wanted traction enhancement, they did not want to deal with the normal handling characteristics an automatic locker provides. And they did not want the sometimes audible click in a turn that is just a fact of life with any automatic locker. So the real question is how large is the market that is left, and we must be honest that we simply don't know. Possibly that is something that could be discussed on the forums you identified and a market profile developed.

We are not selectively ignoring the Xterra market. We simply do not have the resources to quantify the market to the level necessary to make the substantial investment in a new product development at this time. A better market review by Xterra owners would go a long way in assisting us in this market analysis.

We are not sure if we answered your question to your satisfaction or not. Please be assured if there is indeed a substantial and verifiable market for an Aussie Locker to fit the Xterra H233B we will take the necessary steps to serve that market.

Bill Cole
President

NOTE: I'll take that one for action. If you wheel your 1st Gen X and want an automatic locker for it, despite the clicking and everything else, let me know. Let me know which axle, etc. Post a reply and I'll gather the posts and send them to Bill Cole.

Auburn Gear:
Tom,

Thank you for candid E-mail. I apologies for any lack of proper response in the past attempts you have made to receive info on the Auburn Gear Limited Slip of ECTED Lockers. The Auburn Gear Website (AuburnGear.com) is update on a regular based, and is a very good avenue for current product information, new product release etc. We at Auburn Gear get similar E-mails for the other 4 X 4 vehicle owners. Our approach to the end user requests such as your is to let you know we do consider future development of new products for the Nissans.
With the high cost of development for new product, we make every effort to offer new product that will give us a reasonable return on investment. The Nissan vehicle application are in our future new product development plans, unfortunately I can give you a date yet when ECTED-Locker will be made available with the Xterras.
Our next new product offering will be the ECTED - Locker for the Dana 44 axles.

NOTE: So, basically, the Auburn people don't want to say yes or no. Unless we can convince Jim Shrake to make lockers, this is going to be a tough fight. However, if you have a 2nd Gen, you may have an Auburn option in your future.

:rolleyes: So, if you have a 1st Gen and are still looking for an automatic mechanical or manually activated electronic locker and haven't made the move to ARB and understand the difference between posi and open diff carriers, please reply.