I apparently drove my Frontier with a bad center driveshaft bearing on a long trip, and blew the front oil seal on my differential. I had only just noticed the shimmy on the trip down, and thought it would be okay. But instead, all the gear oil drained out and I shredded the gears inside. Long story short, I had to install a whole replacement rear axle/differential assembly. (cause it's all I could get on short notice)

All I could find was a replacement from the same year, so I really want to rebuild the diff carrier with new friction plates and discs. It will take 12 plates and 10 discs, but Nissan only offers the new ones for about $50 a pop. That's $1100+ for all new parts! Screw that ridiculousness.
Yes, I realize that I could just buy a locker or something cool like that, but I'm thrifty, and I don't like to throw away useful parts unless I have to. I also like doing tedious things myself.

If you know of a good source, or if you have some you'd like to let go, please help. Donor parts may come from just about any non-viscous H233B, C200, and H190 LSD, with few exceptions.

How worn are the plates and what was the breakaway torque? The belleville washers can compensate for a bit of wear. You could also shim it to bump the preload back up for a LOT cheaper if that's how you want to go.

it's one of those rare 2004 C200 LSD models. It has 2 discs and 3 plates in use, so it's not much breakaway at all, and the purpose of this is to upgrade. I'm aiming for 5 discs and 7 plates, but don't know wear yet cause it's still awaiting removal. I don't want to shim unless I have to after filling the cavity.

So I'm doing some research on my end. From what I'm reading the discs and plates in that diff are 1.5mm (options for 1.4mm or 1.6mm) and an extra spacer for 6mm. So if you pull the spacer it would take you from 2/3 to 4/5. If you measure what you take out you might be able to compensate for any wear with 1.6mm thick parts. 5/7 would make you 4.5mm too thick minus some wear. That's a Whole lot of extra preload to the point where it's practically locked and not good for a street car.

It's not so much a matter of what I want, it's that I want to know where to find it cheaply. I was asking if anyone has a source for something cheaper than the $50 asking price from Nissan.

My research has told me I have 20.25mm to work with. If I stack the washers in parallel, remove the spacer and utilize the discs on top of the spacer as they were intended (rather than using them as additional spacers), it should work without locking all the way up. Maybe I will need a shim after that, maybe not. We shall see.

The rest of the truck is getting work done also, so don't worry about me building Frankenstein's monster and not being able to handle it. But I appreciate the warning anyhow.

Not worried about you being able to handle it. More building it up like that is probably going to lead to a lot of LSD additive to eliminate noise from the diff and make the money spent on the upgrade a waste. Stickiness of tires is more of what dictates the ultimate lock up from the diff. On the BMW that I race we run what would be an equivalent of 3 clutches and 4 discs with 120 lb-ft of breakaway torque. If we were running hoosiers all the time we'd think about bumping to 4 and 5, but with other tires it's too much.

Chances of finding an aftermarket supplier are slim to none on this one.