Broken axle/CV joint on 05 X

Well Hello All, I was out at Paragon for Marches monthly run what a blast until I heard a very loud snap noise then came the wheelspin so I let off the gas and then try moving on again well I go about a foot then that same loud snap sound again and then that was it for 4 Wheel drive now it does not work at all. So I limp my way home so I can further investigate the problem well I look and I see the Inner CV joint boot looks twisted and the Shaft thats in the diff is loose and I can pull it out this can't be good. I'm sure it should be coverd under the warrenty I hope Everything is stock and I really wasen't drivin hard at all. So if I was really wheelin hard or put bigger tires on I'd geuss the axle would break as soon as I hit the trails. I am really concerned about this because with all the great ratings I am wondering if it was a defect in the shaft. Any opinions or suggestions please Help

Nope. No good.
That'd be great if it is..

That is highly doubtful.
You were driving faster and harder than you're letting on and you busted a CV assembly, it happens. I'm lead to believe you were doing something well over your level of ability, not so much your trucks.

That sucks. I take it that you broke the front correct? They might not cover it under warranty though. Keep us updated.

I only broke the shaft just this one time and really I was just going up a hill in 4low and started to loose traction so I cut the wheel so I did not hit a tree and then one snap move again another snap. I really was not driving hard at all I swear I even finshed the hill in two wheel drive.

It is the Front

CVs tend to blow when turned in droop, or when they're spinning hard and suddenly gain traction . It happens Bad thing like Galusha noted, is it prolly isn't warrantied ..

Yep sorry but that is the cost ow going out wheelin. A sudden gain in traction will do that.

Type this - 4x4

now hold shift and type it again

$X$ Your not kidding and if this is not covered I will cry for a long time

So are the 05 X's front diffs and axles junk will they hold up to 33's

I don't think anybody can say if the IFS axles are weaker or stronger on the new X's yet.

but IFS CV style front ends break sometimes on the above mentioned conditions...period. notice jeep still uses solid front axles. the universals can break, but generally these axles have less problems under stress. they can really take a beating if they aren't locked.

look at a hummer H1 for a low angle half shaft design that works. (it's got offset gear reduction to reduce the torque and angle on them...very trick).

If it is not under warranty, PM me, I can get you the parts you need for cheap

Gee wiz Pony you'll have all the old parts gone before you have the SAS and Spring over done!

I almost snapped up an 05 CV on Ebay for $1 a few months ago knowing someone would need it before long...

They will hold up to the 33's with no problems. The only down side to the front is that the CV's are our weakest links. The reason is that on the first gens they have hubs which is really the weakest link for them but since we don't have any hubs the next weak link in our chain is the cv's. You really don't have anything to worry about as long as you aren't spinning the wheel to hard when the wheel is off of the ground and landing. That will cause a big enough shock load on it to snap it or when you are turning and all of a sudden get traction to that wheel which will then agian apply a big enough shock load on it to snap it.

This is good to know. OK Pony Boy looks like I'll be wanting to buy a CV off you when you upgrade, please.
Later

Sure thing Doug

I dunno about the '05+, but on the 1st gen half shafts blow fairly regularly and aren't that big a deal to replace... nor are they that expensive. ~$100 at Auto Zone with a core (I think $180 without)

Hello All, Still din't make to the Dealer yet Had to clean it up real pretty. While cleaning it up I climb underneth to inspect the CV better and it looks in great shape its tight the boot is screwed up looks like it spun. I drove the truck today to see if there are any noises or vibrations not a one drives like brand new but the 4 wheel drive don't work and I can actually pull the axle out of the diff with no effort at all I know most CV axles slide in and lock and need a pry bar or chisel to pop it out but this just slides out as far as the CV will let it and you can shake it side to side even with the axle all the way in the diff. So I am thinking either the axle broke in the rear or diff is busted.

I would stop driving.... jeeze!!!

Like hell you can't make that statement, yet.

The 1st gen Xterra used a R200 front differential, and axle shafts to fit. The 2nd gen uses a R180 high pinion front axle, and axle shafts to match. The R180 IS a significantly weaker axle, however, the high pinion version should make the gears, at least, be about equivalent.

But you're going to find it pretty obvious that the 2nd gen actual axle shafts are R180 axle shafts, and yes, they ARE weaker.

Not to mention, there's a buttload more torque coming from the 2nd gen's engine & t-case combo, over the 1st gen.

In other words, find a source of used axle shafts. You're going to need them if you wheel ANY IFS rig. Including the 2nd gen Xterra.

Does any body know if they make upgrades for the front axles or the whole diff like a SAS or something to toughen them up.

Not yet. If there ever will be, it'll be a few years.

The best bet, is to learn the limits of droop, skinny pedal, and turning, and once you've learned the limits, to not exceed them unless you've got a spare and around 30 minutes or so to replace the broken parts...

In a few years, I'm sure junkyard spares will be easy enough to find, and for a pretty cheap price. For the 1st gens, you can find replacements for around $20-$40, without too much effort. To me, when they're that cheap and easy to replace, it's a no brainer that it's an expendable part.

I realize the front diff is the smaller high pinion, but was the 180 mm diff ever used on any previous nissan truck up front?

also..How do you know the side gear size and axle shaft spline count/thickness be inferior to older xterras/frontiers?

I measured the axle shaft thickness for kicks: it was about 1.050 " thick. I have no idea on the stub thickness and spline count since I'm not going to take it apart. Maybe someone in a nissan parts dept can lay them out on a table and take pics.

I'd like to think the engineers didn't totally let us down on the new models IFS, but I want specifications. I think the axle hardness and yield strength will be hard to obtain , however.

just a side by side comparo between the older nissans and various toyota and domestic units would be interesting.

They let me down my X is in the shop now. I am waiting to hear the verdict. I think its in the diff or the axle broke in the diff.

bring your camera when you go to see the carnage. we all need to see this.

Hello Just got my X back from the dealer. The axle broke inside the diff and broke some stuff in there. All is covered by the warranty(whew. I can drive I just can't use the 4 wheel drive they said the parts will be in in a week or two.

Well my X did not make it a week or two the axle walked its way out doin about 65 on the PA turnpike no xtra damage just a big mess of grease and gear oil. The dealer said it was safe to drive(bull--it)if not for my cat like reflexes It could have been a fatal disaster. So I am still waiting and I don't like it. They said they are not sure what went wrong or caused the breakage they just ordered a new axle and final drive(front diff assembly)complete. THIS SUCKS

Glad you were able to get it covered under warranty.

Seeing as the front axles always turn, I was shocked they told you it was ok to drive. I am guessing they have not delt with many 05-06's.

I think they just wanted to avoid paying for the rental they should have provided. :rolleyes:

I hammer my Toyota with 35 tires on it and have yet to snap a half shaft. I cant believe an xterra with stock tires would break without something else givin up first. My weak spot is the diff

the next six months to a year will tell if this will be a pattern failure among off roaders.

what concerned me was not the broken cv shaft, but the facxt that the inboard spline stub busted off in the diff damaging it as well.

Yippee!!! I got my X back today with a brand new front final drive ass'y and axles. They are unsure of what happened but everything in the diff was destoyed the spider gears are in a million pieces the carrier was cracked and the ring and pinion are broken. The service manager said his bullitins show that it has happened before but the cause is unknown he kidda said these things happen. All was covered under the warranty too.

Hey GEO, guess what? I just joined the club today.. Passenger side inner went BANG!
Fortunately, like you, I'm fully covered under warranty .

Ok, Dan, give us the story

I am ready to declare this a pattern myself, and that stinks. Nothing should break with stock tires, that is really short sighted and pathetic. Montero guys run 35-37" tires on stock drivetrain with very little breakage, and only on the most extreme trails, and NEVER A FREAKIN DIFF EXPLODING!

So you throw 35s on and a stock CV cannot handle it...dissapointing but not the end of the world, and Nissan cannot engineer for everybody. Pull out a universal CV from the trunk, change it on the trail and be on your merry way. But explode a diff, and you are totally screwed, not to mention $$$$$$.

All I have to say is thank goodness for Xterra Racer, and hopefully the warranty period lasts until the new front parts come out.

I've seen Dbax wheel tho, I doubt he was babying the X at all! lol

In deceptively firm sand/mud/goo mix w/ no more than 2500 rpm, and BANG! Not my usual way of F'ng things up.. I was surprised too.

This really is disappointing. When I was in high school I had a '91 Hardbody, man I till you what, nothing could break that truck. Well maybe if I drove it off a cliff. Almost did that once though, I was in the snow and slid off the road. My front bumper caught a small tree and stopped the truck from it's slide down the canyon. Broke the bumper mount but saved the truck. anyways yeah, I could jump that thing and not break anything in the drivetrain. Oh BTW I was running 32 x 11.50's on it.

I bet it wasn't your CV.

I bet it was the spline end and I bet that it's going to require a new diff.

I bet you're right.

Anyone with MT blown the Diff yet? Seems to be all AT trucks, unless that's just a coincidence!

Seeing as the front diff is identical, I just think it's a numbers thing.

There have not been all that many blown diffs and there are more autos and manuals.

Now member on another forum rasied a good question. Has all the blown diffs been 05 models? So far I have not found an 06 or 07 that has blown a diff. Maybe Nissan fixed something?

I think it's jsut more likely that the 05 crowd has been beating on their trucks a bit harder...though, my diff went out about 20K miles / 1 year ago.

Dbax is an 07

Oh, shoot...well there goes that theory...

Yeah, '07 Jas.. Here's the only pic I took as it was getting hauled off on the flatbed-

I thought the MT's had slightly lower gearing. Is that TC gearing then?

I don't know what relationship you have with the dealer...but see if you can get them to let you look at the diff and see what actually broke.

In that photo it looks like the spline end snapped as you can see the side shaft sticking out. It also looks like you might have blows the CV as well, that boot looks oddly bent

They do have different gearing, but same diff.

I don't think the problems are the R&P. I could be wrong though.

Word is, so far, like most all others, Nissan has told 'em to yank the whole thing and replace it. They'll prolly not even look inside.. But, my friends there will forward me any and all pics they have before it goes away.

Just noticed your signature..If parts aint flyin', you aint tryin'..

Not tryin hard AT ALL

Just got a call from dealer. They're replacing the diff and both axles by this wednesday, all under warranty.

Just curious, what lift and tires do you have on it?

Other than the sliders, right now it's a bone stock '07 OR AT.

Ahhh....ok...I was just wondering if they were not questioning mods...but I guess they don't have to.

Thats good that you get it back soon DBAX, otherwise that would suck if you couldn't make it to GONE.

LOL, We're expecting our baby boy anytime (day/hour) now, so GONE is out of the question this year for us. Too bad really, there're a few people I was looking forward to meeting this year who've never been, and some old friends from here who I'd just like to wheel with. More than likely though, we're gonna' truck up to Ouray in August (he'll be a few months old of course, perfect for a road trip) for some Rocky Mountain High time.. Get that snorkle on, leave now, and we'll see you there.

Im working on it. Been visiting this site alot lately.

Congrats to you and the Mrs DBAX.

Back in the saddle Brought it in monday morning (4-30), got a call today (5-02) at 1:00 saying it's ready. They were nice enough to give it a rinse, but left the inside as dirty as it was, and all the CV grease which let go and sprayed underneath is still visible in the pics .

They pick up the tow Dan? Waldo

Glad you got her back and good luck on the Baby coming. Don't be nervous, well try anyways.

I can't believe that card made it here! Thank you very much.

Adam

So with no hubs to unlock the front...a long distance limp home is not going to happen I assume? Hmmm....Time to cancel Gone and other upcoming trips....My rear broke, the front cannot be far behind....

Well, you are not dead in the water. there would be nothing stopping you from removing the front half shafts. Not as nice as just turning some hubs, but also, not hard at all.

DBAX,

Congrats on the pending baby! I wont make it to GONE this year as well. Work is too time consuming.

Everyone,

My rear diff exploded too about a month ago. I have an 05 Off Road That I bought in April 2005. Whenever I turned I heard a loud clanking sound and I had all of the same symptoms like Lloyds. I took it to my Nissan Dealer and gave him two $20.00 bills, ($40.00) and he repleaced my entire rear end, free of charge. My X has 32,000 miles on it, and the underside is tore up from 2 GONE MOABs, I have the Daystar 2.5 in lift, and the front Shrockworks bumper with a Warn winch.

My Nissan service advisor at the dealership I went to in Los Angeles, said the actual mechanic tried to tell him that I had abused my X, but the service advisor told him to go ahead and replace it. It took about a week and Nissan even paid for 5 days worth of a rental car.

Every time I take my X in I tip the guy a $20 dollar bill and if its something big then I do $40. I'm not made of money, but its the best $20-$40 I ever spent getting $6,000 worth of rear end work done for free.

This is a broken stubshaft. The stub broke off just as the splines started on the shaft. I know this from tearing down 2 of these myself. The hardest part is to get the broken piece out of the housing. I guess you won't have to worry about that as it will be a warranty deal. The dealer policy is to replace it all.

Do both sides of the diff have side/sub shafts? I know the long side does (passanger side?), but does the short side too?

Yes, infact the part number is the same for both halfshafts. Both sides will twist off the same. As for my experience, I have only twisted off the passenger side (twice).

So I took in my Xterra for repairs at Peoria Nissan. According to the service advisor's boss, my use of the Xterra offroading borders on abuse.

This is what is being replaced.

1. Front Driver's side CV shaft.

2. Front differential.

3. Transfer case.

4. Rear differential.

This being said everything is covered by warrantee. That is the good thing.

Well, is it fair to say that after reading this and the other post about broken drive train parts, that our 2nd gen Xterra's are pieces of crap?

Having read this forum and these posts about 4x4 issues when actually using the trucks to go off road, I no longer would consider or recommend the Xterra to anyone as a real 'out of the box' off road SUV. It really is just another fancy mall crawler after all.

I agree whole heartedly. But then again my truck is being fixed right now. .

I have already cost Nissan several sales, and after seeing what is going on with Toyota I am forced to reccomend the Jeep J/K. Now I NEVER thought that day would come! Jeep must be laughing all the way to the bank! Japanese goes downhill, and they beef theres up

This is exactly what Nissan made it for. If they wanted to trully compete with Jeep, the 2nd gen would have been smaller, lighter & with solid axle up front. The huge majority of xterras never see anything but asphalt. 4x4 is for winter driving.

As great as the new JK is (I was crawling around under a friend's 07 Rubi on Saturday), it has it's short comings.

Pros:
Jeep finally realized that the inverted Y steering sucks and now has factory crossover.

A JK with just new springs (or a BB) can fit 35's and get a 910 RTI (my 03 Rubi with 6" LA could only squeeze out a 905).

Jeep has decent factory upgrades. Bumpers, sliders, etc (their rear bumper sucks though).

Cons:
What were they thinking getting rid of the 4.0L inline 6 as an option?

No place to bolt up skid plates.

Now instead of an easy to make gas tank skid, you need a muffler skid.

The price tag on the Rubi is still way too high.

Again, what were they thinking with the engine.

So...now I know this isn't a Jeep thread, just thought I would share what I liked and disliked about JK's.

Now...

How the hell did you blow up the front diff, rear diff and TC all at the same time?

But they added a factory locker?

Hmmm wonder if you could somehow bolt / mod in the Xterra 4.0 V6 in that new Jeep... That might be sweet.

[/qb][/QUOTE]But they added a factory locker?[/QB][/QUOTE]

And those cute Off-Road labels my lawyer made me photograph....Then theres the 7 year advertising campaign 100% directed at off-road on a scale never before witnessed(since it has with jeep and Toyota)

Yes, the J/K has weaknesses like any vehicle. See: Engine But, expoding drivetrane components is just stupid.

Glad I have a 1st gen X, but now I'm wishing I had talked my wife out of a 2nd gen Frontier.

I know the guys with Titans on titantalk.com were encouraging all their rear diff failures to file a complaint with the NHTSA at NHTSA Complaint Investigation

Certainly couldn't hurt to get the ball rolling to get nissan to pay attention.