ARB Differential Breather Kit (170112)

The ARB Differential Breather Kit eliminates the shortcomings of the factory breathers fitted to your vehicle's drivetrain components (such as the gearbox, axles, and transfer box) and prevents water contamination of those components during wading and dust contamination in dirty conditions. The one-way breathers fitted to the drivetrain are replaced with free-flow fittings and the breather tubes are extended to a single manifold with air filter that is installed at the highest location the vehicle will allow.

Automobile designers fit breathers to drivetrain components to let them exhaust the hot air that forms inside during operation. The air within these components heats up during use and expands, and the air needs some place to go or it will push out lubricants through the seals (in fact, check your breathers before anything else if you have oil leaks in your drivetrain). A breather is a one-way valve fitted to the top of a drivetrain component that lets out the hot air. As the drivetrain components cool at rest, the one-way valves close and a vacuum is created. This system works just fine in dry conditions, but driving the vehicle in deep water will cause the drivetrain components to cool rapidly, the one-way breather valves will close tight, vacuum will form within the drivetain components and suck in water through the seals, and the oil therein will be contaminated with water.

The Differential Breather Kit eliminates these shortcomings by eliminating the one-way valves on the drivetain components and extending the breather tubing to an aluminum manifold that is fitted to the vehicle at the highest possible point (different for every vehicle). The manifold is fitted with a high-flow air filter that prevents dirt and dust contamination of the drivetrain lubricants, but allows air to pass freely and allows the drivetrain components to take in air or release air depending on conditions. The Differential Breather Kit uses 8mm tubing rather than 6mm tubing because off-camber 4x4 driving can cause gear oil to enter and block the thinner 6mm breather tubing. 8mm tubing also lets the drivetain components breathe better when the breather extensions are very long because they extend to high parts of the vehicle (such as the snorkel heads on many of the Camel Trophy vehicles).

The Differential Breather Kit contains enough tubing and components to replace the factory breathers on two drivetrain components, but the manifold will accept up to four tubes. The Differential Breather Kit it contains:

• anodised aluminum manifold
• sintered bronze air filter (the same air filter fitted to the ARB Air Compressors)
• eight meters of 8mm polyurethane tubing
• 4x 8mm 1/8 BSP push-in fittings
• 2x self-tapping screws
• 10x cable ties
• 3x 1/8 BSP plugs
• instructions

The manifold will accept up to four breather tubes. If you want to extend the breathers on two additional drivetrain components and connect them to your manifold, look at the ARB Differential Breather Extension Kit, which contains eight meters of 8mm tubing and four additional BSP fittings. The Differential Breather Extension Kit will also come into play when you want to extend your breather hoses to a very high point (such as the top of a snorkel) and you require extra hose.

ARB Part Number -  170112
Universal Product Code -  9332018027375