Add my Rear Diff to the collection

Went to do work on the Forest Service Trail Designation process today and blew the rear diff climbing a moderate hill, with some wheel spin and no hopping. I have 33" tires.

The diff makes clacking sounds which got progressively worse, especially when turning. On the hill climb the left rear tire quit spinning. Later it worked again with the locker on, but quit again and the noise became horrible closer to home. It probably needs towed Monday.

The verdict is now in, both front and rear diffs on the Gen II Xterra are some of the worst ever to be placed under a 4x4. Now what? Quit wheeling until after market upgrades come out? Clean up the scratches and trade in on a J/K? SAS the front and upgrade the rear?....

Deffinately seen more Front Diff problems than rear diffs, I think the rear Diffs in the 2nd Gen are pretty strong, sounds like a case of bad luck there rather than a common complaint.

I think a better choice would be a Hyundai Tucson, much better wheeler than an Xterra or a Jeep IMHO.

I hear you. I have been freaking out and just waiting for front diff explosions lately, and frankly mine will explode soon I am sure. BUT, I heard of 1 rear failure then recently read one of Xterra Racers posts that mentioned an upgrade for a common failure on the rear diff. I need to find that. That got me on the alert.

Paco, I knew to put the flame suit on. But I dont want to hear "well, they cant engineer for everybody" or "your one inch oversized tires are too much" The facts so far as they stand:

1. Nissan added 70+HP, tons of torque and a lower geared t/case, then installed a SMALLER front AND rear diff

2. While you cannot engineer for everything, 4x4 makers know 33" stock tires and atleast 35" aftermarket tires are standard and need to be engineered for.

3. Exploding diffs are nearly unheard of, and I have never heard of cross pins failing!

4. Nissan had less then satisfactory front strength on older Xterras and had a chance to turn that around.

5. This was only my SIXTH wheeling trip!

From what I hear, the ring gear in the M226 /w Locker is amazingly thin to allow room for the locker. This seems to be what's failing in the rears. Though, yours sounds more like you first blew the spider gears.

There was a guy on the Club Frontier board who has a 2wd Nismo and blew the rear (the NISMO frontier has the same rear as the OR X). Nissan would not cover it under warranty because he had blocks on the rear axle. From what I remember he took it to multiple dealers and got the same answer. He then went up the ladder and got no help there.

My rear has been fine and I have changed the fluid three times now (due to peeled back cover) and never found any unusual wear or exessive metal particles.

On a side note. The M226 rear is also used in the Titan with a lot more HP than the X or Frontier and it holds up pretty well. So I don't think the rear is all that weak. You can't go by XterraRacer's luck as he is beating that truck as hard as possible.

The dealer said the Titans are have a common failure(and when do they admit that) of some sort of clip? Maybe axle clip?

Frankly the Titans wont see as much of a work out as our Xterras, even with the extra HP. Unless they get a trailer stuck in the mud they are less likely I think to cause the wheel spin to break diffs. They are too big for serious wheeling.

Just to emphasize I have been wheeling for 20 years, so I do have alot of experience. These diffs are JUNK! Sixth wheeling trip in 2 years? A FREAKING 2X2 breaking A DIFFERENTIAL, NOT A AXLE

I hope they dont cry about my 1" over tires or Calimini lift. Then I will have to call out the BS police.

Yes, the new diffs are junk, compared to the old ones. FYI: the older versions of Xterra/Frontiers didn't have differential issues; they had front CV shaft issues, as in they broke easily. BUT, that's fairly common for any IFS rig that gets wheeled.

You're dead-on when you complained about more HP, but yet smaller front AND rear diffs. Nissan made a poor choice on this, IMO.

As to the Titan, their rear diff is laughed at in the Full-Size truck circles, because frankly, a Dana 44 rear axle is great on a smaller rig w/ up to 31" tires. 33" and above and you're asking to break something on a D44 rear. Period.

Gotta agree here. The rear diff is too small for the X with the new V6 as far as I'm concerned, and terrible on the Titan. If I were buying a half-ton right now the diff/axle issue alone would steer me away from a Titan, which is a shame because otherwise it's a very nice half-ton truck.

Reading posts like this makes me appreciate my old-school X.

Just had my rear replaced under warranty, would have cost somewhere around $3500 or so. They replaced the whole Rotor to Rotor assembly. Just ran Box Canyon and it held up well, but let's see what happens when I get another 24K miles on it.

Not to comment on Xterra, as so far my diff is OK ( only had my truck for 8 months but I had a Jeep Rubicon with a Std D44 with locker and I had 33' tires and wheeled the truck for 50 times in 4 years without problems ( D44 problems I mean ) and my friend is in his 5th year on his Rubicon truck, and he wheels once or twice a week, and he's got 35' since 3 years, and he's very very hard on his truck ( he broke almost everything from driveshaft to anything else, but D44 is still running ). But after hearing all these comments on TheOR diff, starting to get worried, especially that Nissan recommends synthetic oil only for that model, and what's strange they do so in a 75w140 grade even here in cold climate Canada. Every truck I had before, uses 75w90 over here, and 75w140 in the lower states, and none did insist on synthetic ( mind you I'm synthetic all over from diff to tcase, to anything)but concerned Nissan is recommending the thickest and most protective synthetic for their diff, makes you wonder ).

Well the dealer said it cannot be warrantied because I have aftermarket skid plates with scratches and the Calimini low rider bars are bent, therefore I must have abused it The freakin ring gear broke! That is STUPID!

They told me to call 1-800-get-lost....no wait that was 1-800-Nissan-1. But I got " we are open 8-5, call back." So I get to make that call in the morning...Anyone had to go this route for a differential replacement?

And what the heck are we going to do with these paper weights now? I am canceling all future out of town trips until I come up with something. It is one thing to blow a diff up nearby, but on the RUbicon is another story. Descision time because my favorite hobby and long term build up is on hold. Front and rear axle swaps at 14K? Fix up and trade in while I am behind? Kick back until Xterra Racers sources come through and rebuild both diffs?

Wow - that sucks dude. You have the original factory skids? I'd say remove the lift & skids and go to another dealer.

It's a fucking 'Off Road' truck for christ sake, what do they think you are gonna do with it? It's supposed to be built for off roading and they penalize people for doing just that. Isn't there some kind of law where they have to prove that the mods are what caused the part to fail? Don't give up dude.

It's a shame, but I won't be wheeling my Xterra other than for camping excursions along forrest roads, after the problems I've heard people having I just don't want the hassle of blowing a front diff on my daily driver. So I put $750 into an 87 4Runner from a girl at work which will be my trail rig once I've put a few $$$ into some mods.

My dealer, Peoria Nissan in AZ didn't even question the Daystar lift. All I had to do is tell my service adviser I found the metal in the gear oil. I brought it in for him to see.

As Roger said, if all else fails, before calling in to NissanUSA, remove your aftermarket skids, etc. and take it in to a different dealer. You'll get it repaired under warranty unless you really did something to cause it, which is unlikely.

Keep us posted.

Sorry to hear about that. I am the guy mentioned earlier w/ the Frontier that blew a diff. It was my spider gears. I was going up a hill w/ the locker on and the right rear tire was off the ground. I had a little bit of wheel spin and when it hit the ground the gears just broke into pieces. I limped it in to the dealer. They blamed it on the blocks and I said that doesn't make the spider gears break. I called the Nissan consumer affairs and got no help. They said they would not cover it at all. It was gonna cost $2600. I went to the owner of the dealership and talked to him in the showroom w/ customers around and told him to put in writing how the block caused the failure in the rearend. He said he would work on it. The next day I got a call saying they were going to cover it. He couldn't figure out a way to put it in writing so he called Nissan corporate and got the approval.

LLyod - one thing that we found is that there are 2 types of D44 variants being used on the Xs. The first type released was a 2 spider rear end. This is probably what you and I have in the rears. The 2 spider axle blew out after 150 miles of racing.

We originally had a 4 spider gear that went a full 600 miles of testing / racing... then it too went bye bye. Then the one I just mentioned. We were then given a 4 spider gear rear and it lasted the whole 250 miles. I appears to be that the early 2nd Gens had the 2 spider gear.

If you feel comfortable opening up the rear dif cover it would be interesting to confirm if you in fact have the 2 version. It is interesting that they quickly learned that lesson and went to the 4 spider.

I think you may have a good arguement if you approach Nissan that way. I believe its all internal, meaning that the whole axle housing and actual axle shafts can be maintained while just replacing the other components.

I would like to have Dave (XterraRacer) post to this thread with some of his observations too.

Sorry that your axle went out... good luck.

Good luck getting help from Nissan on anything. I haven't had rear problems yet but I've had two cluthes burn up under normal on-road conditions. One at 13,000 miles and the second at 26,000. Nissan told me that the clutch is a normal wear item in manual transmitions. What!!! I've been driving manual for 15 years and have never burnt a clutch before!!! And that includes ten years of wheeling. Nissan customer service sucks and the Xterra is great for camping, not hard-core wheeling.

Dip sticks at the dealer now say it was the spider gears, not the ring gear :rolleyes: Anyhow thanks for that advice on the 2 spider gear variant. I will bring that to the attention of the district rep when he calls. So it sounds like that might help me, if its the case. I bought mine May 05, so I have no idea if that is early enough for 2 spider diff or not.

Unfortunately it does not sound like the 4 spider gear diff will last either, maybe with stock tires...I am very interested to see what these upgrades coming out this summer can do for us on both diffs, and whether we can ever get to atleast a 35" tire for modern wheeling. If not....

I could have told you it was the spider gears just by what you described...as a matter of fact I think I did in my first post.

I don't think most dealer techs know their ass from a hole in the ground. It took my local dealer two days to determain that my front diff was blown. I figured it out in 10 minutes with a jack.

Here's mine. I don't know my ass from my elbow with regards to what I'm looking at tho and if I have 2 or 4 Spider gears.

Can't tell unless you pull the diff out and look in the carrier. All you see there is the Ring Gear and carrier.

I thought a ring gear was odd also, and that made me more out of my mind, thanks dealer :rolleyes: I think I lectured them enough in the beggining that they went straight to the diff. Apparently they are used to replacing Titan diffs regularly as well. I have a Titan also, and I have " Tundra" on my mind now.

Rinky, I dont think you can see the spider gears without pulling it out, and the stealer wont do that. They will only replace the entire rear end. But, should be able to learn from the vin if it has 2 whopping spider gears or not during this process sometime?

That pic was taken when I peeled the cover about 18k miles ago. Only had about 5k on her back then.

I wanted to play stupid to make sure I did not have problems getting it replaced. They told me right off that they were going to cover the diff this time, but because I had oversized tires (285/75R16's) that they wouldn't do it again. This was at the dealer who is the local club sponsor. So I am hoping I have no more problems. At least until there are some aftermarket parts.

I understand the you have to pay to play, but damn for the price of a new diff from the factory, I could toss two new axles under the Jeep.

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.

Lloyd, If I were you I would go to another dealership and when you pull up at the service entrance make sure you have the advisor walk over to your X and give him $20-$40 and tell him that you have this problem, but make sure there isnt a crowd when you "tip" him.

My personal opinion is that too many people are too cheap, and simple $20.00 dollar bill goes a long way (at least in LA it does) to getting what you want done. I never wait for an hour at a restaurant, I always get my service covered under warranty, I get a free phone upgrade from my carrier, because I always tip who I'm dealing with. If they wont accept a tip I then ask them who is their manager, and I make sure thier manager knows that I'm getting excellent service or I write a letter. People are starved for being appreciated in our selfish culture. Sorry for the soap box.

Ok, now all you rear end blow out guys are starting to chime in. Did any of you find out whether yours was a 2 or 4 spider gear diff?

I'm going to guess not. My dealer wouldn't even open up the diff case when my front blew. I think that comes down from corp to not open it and just replace the entire thing.

If I am not mistaken the guy with the Nismo Frontier had his rearend rebuilt on his own dime. Maybe he would know.

Hope to hear back from Nissan later, but there " 24hrs" is up. I wont be paying for this, even if I have to hire a lawyer. I hope we can find out if it is the 2 spider gear units letting go so fast. From what I can tell the 4 spider gears are also no good, but should last significantly longer.

I have a feeling I will get the " well, we are doing this only once" line as well. And with 30K of warranty left that is scarry. And what about if the front blows? Hmmmm.

On the positive side it sounds like Xterra Racer is working hard at an economical solution to fix these diffs. It is only a question of time and do we risk paying for a 3,500.00 diff out of pocket again or park our rigs until the upgrades come out? Sounds like something will be available soon, but I have a feeling it will be limited to protoype testing for little while.

They were trying to make me pay for it, but I eventually "persuaded" them to cover it under warranty for me and they put a whole new rear axle under there for me. Housing and everything. I didn't get to see if it was 2 or 4 though. I took a camera phone pic but you can't tell anything from it.

Ah, gotcha, I know when I left off on that thread over there you were talking about them just rebuilding it.

I'm going to have to go revisit that thread.

Somebody want to explain how a "2-spider gear" center differential works?? I've never seen one, and I'm having a hard time figuring out how only 2 gears can do the job.

Only design I've ever seen is 2 side spider gears & 2 un-attached spider gears, which makes differential rotation of the tires possible. I can't figure out how 2 spiders can be designed to do the job.

(side note)

Sorry about your truck man. I hope they take care of it for you. Time to trade in.
I love hearing the Titan horror stories. I'm swaying toward a Tundra right now, stories like this will keep me there.

Hmmm, I wonder if someone could get a schematic of the 2 spider gear diff. I cannot see how that would work either. Xterra Racer could maybe elaborate.

You know I LOVE my Titan, but it will be retired to construction duty soon at work and it will obviously need a differential fix. I snuck over to both the Titan and Frontier forums today, and moral is headed downhill for sure. This has really bummed me out. In the next 2 years I will most likely switch to Tundra. I hope Nissan will see the disaster brewing here, because I GUARENTEE the Tundra wont be getting a rep for blown diffs or anything of such on brand new trucks! Can you say 10.5" ring gear?

Again, I dont need a perfect vehicle. But catostrophic drivetrane failure without improvements....I mean the J/K quits running after 3-8K, but it is atleast an electronic issue that will soon be fixed permanently under warranty. We are stuck with diffs that will not allow us to tow or wheel without serious aftermarket support, and leave standing by the road.

Here is an animation of a standard (open) 2-spider differential. The vast majority of differentials in cars and small trucks are 2-spider. Open differential The spider gears are the red ones.

You just posted a link to what's considered a normal spider gear setup, w/ 4 spider gears... The side gears and the pinion gears are collectively known as the "spider gears," so far as I know. I guess I could be wrong on the nomenclature, but if that's the case, then somebody's going to have to explain what a "4 spider gear" case looks like, 'cause there's no room for 4 of 'em.

Here's a nice photo of an open Dana 30:



The side gears & the pinion gears are the spider gears. There's not enough space to put 2 more of 'em in there, and it wouldn't work if you took 2 of 'em out.

You are wrong. Here is an example of 4 spider conversion kit to upgrade a standard 2 spider differential. 4 Spider

Here is another picture and diagram of standard 2 spider diff. Note that the diagram below the picture is incorrectly labeled. The arrows in the diagram labeled "side gears" are really pointing to the spider gears. Differential I built high performance and off-road VW's in my past and a 4-spider upgrade was standard practice.

REAR DIFF101
In this picture is a 4 spider diff. This is the factory elec. locker. Look to the left of the ring gear, notice the seam in the flange the ring gear bolts to? This is how the case opens to access the internals. When you remove the ring gear and 2 small screws and then she comes apart. Now on the right side notice the 2 white wires coming down into the black plastic block, this is the electric magnet, that locks the diff when given power. The magnet pushes a plate with fingers out to engage the locker.This model is the strongest Nissan currently offers. This is the one I run in my racer to date. The 2 spider will not make it 100 race miles. The weakest link in the 4 spider diff is the passenger axle end gear. It has been machined down to clear the magnet assembly. This made the splines that drive the axle too weak. Nissan does not sell the end gear separate. You must replace the complete rear axle assembly.

XterraRacer
TeamXterraRacing.com

Awesome - Nice to know I have the stronger version. Although it's the front I'm more concerned about. Roll on May 30th when my house closes and I get the cash to put into my indestructible 87 4Runner!

I am getting close to having a spool for the Nissan M226 rear done.

here is a great picture of a four spider gear locking rear diff from ARB.

ARB locker

the locker connects the the two axle gears together. when locked the spider gears do nothing. when unlocked the spider gears turn to alow the axles to spin at different speeds.

im assuming your rear diff was unlocked when it failed?

actually the label to the side gears are not spider gears. they are infact side gears (not sure what or if they have a "technical" name). they connect directly to the axle and spin on one axis through the center of the axle/gear.

spider gears rotate on two axis', one through the gear that is perpendicular to the axis and on an axis through the middle of the axle.

im not an expert on this but as far as i know this is right.

is this just an 05 deal??

Sorry, It is a problem that is inhierent to some 2nd generation Xterras and Fronteirs, even the Titans. Anything with the M226 Dana axle.

So we just have to wait and see if it goes or not?? man that's not cool!!!

So all OR models (they all have the factory locker) are the same? That's not good to know as that's what we have seen fail recently (the M226 w/ E-Locker).

If the passanger side side gear is infact the weak point, that's what sounds like Lloyd blew. Blowing the side gear would act the same as blowing the spider gears.

As someone already pointed out...that is a 2 spider diff. That diff has two side gears (where the axle shaft attaches) and two spider gears.

Got the message the first time...

Some lacky at Nissan customer service, not even someone that knows anything about these trucks denied the warranty. So, I will be hiring and attorney, going to war, and spreading the word about Nissan as much as I can. I am going to pay to have that POS towed back to my house for now and preserve evidence.

Guess I am done wheeling for now. Then trade in on something else later. Glad I did not buy those 2 new Titan work trucks yet!

Lloyd, I'm sorry you've had a terrible experience with Nissan. Nissan of just 3 years ago did not have this type of problem; I have yet to hear of anyone destroying an H233B rear differential. The newer vehicles Nissan has been putting out in the past few years have been geared towards the majority, and not the wheeling minority. Unfortunately, it's created rigs that do great on pavement, but are severely lacking in strength offroad, or for heavy duty work. It's unfortunate, but it's been working for Nissan on the sales end, so I don't see them changing their target audience in the future.

You'll probably get bashed for saying negatives about Nissan around here, so please, do yourself a favor and keep any negatives to the 05+ models, as the previous models do not suffer from this weak condition!

Good luck. I hope thye take care of it like they should.

Good points. The lacky I talked to said a engineering defect must exist. I told him the SPECIFIC known defects, about how both diffs are smaller then the Gen I trucks yet with so much more power.......He just ignored me.

He also claimed(at first) the Xterra was not designed for off-road Ok...So that is why all marketing was geared to off-road....you have an off-road model with the most advanced drive system, clocked drivetrane, vast model improvements specifically for off-road and that big ole off-road sticker on the side :rolleyes:

I really hate to see this thread. My dad was a farmer and since the early 80s drove nothing but Nissan pickups. Those things drove every other kind of pickup used in the area, including Toyotas, literally into the ground. My Xterra, which shares a lot of DNA with older Nissan pickups, has been flawless. The new X's looked great on paper. So great that I seriously considered trading in my '01. But after reading this, and hearing some of the other things I've heard, I'm glad I didn't.

I think I'll keep my '01 for a long while and keep my fingers crossed that when it is time for a replacement, Nissan will have pulled their heads out. If they don't improve I may find myself in a Toyota truck of some sort next time around.

Don't get a taco or FJ if you are looking at the weaknesses. The new body Tacomas have worse diffs than we do. They have a sticky on their site full of people who grenaded diffs going down the road w/ only about 15k miles. At least when I broke the spider gears on mine I was offroad on a pretty tough obstacle and not in an intersection like the taco's.

I cruised the FJ site and did not see anything about major failures.(not saying I did not miss it) Just a bunch of minor, new model junk.

J/k would be interesting once they work out the electrical issues, and with a better motor or chip upgrade.....

Just did the NHTSA report and BBB report. Reports are quite limited as Nissan had been replacing under warranty.

hokieXterra22

Take a closer look. The incorrect labels are on the diagram, the photograph is labeled correctly. Differential

Here it is... http://www.tacomaterritory.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35345

Lloyd,

You may already be aware of this Titan Driveline forum. It does have a link to a PDF of the NHSTA listing for Titan differential failures.

I did see that. Shockingly there were only like 85 reports, and NONE for the XTerra. The reason is probably that Nissan had been honoring the warranty, so few people got pissed enough to file a complaint. You COULD have counted me in that crowd. But I filed a complaint with NHSTA and the BBB. Fixing to run to the lawyer office now.

A quick calculation I think Nissan is probably out 25M in diff repairs so far, so I can see where they are in O SH!T mode. My guess is liability lies in both Nissan and Dana, so its probably a mess.

The Tacoma thing is interesting, in that it is mostly E-Lockers also...Hmmm......

I also see the Titan crisis as appearing sooner and greater as the truck came out 1 year earlier, and there are alot of people towing. For the Gen II X, it is more of a matter of 4-wheeling, not towing, and the older the rig the more likely people are to wheel it. Heck, even mine sat un-wheeled for 1.5yrs until I started prepping it. So the crisis is just starting to brew on the X side. But a failure of this nature could be 100s of Millions of dollars

xterraracer,

I am curious about how you identified RiNkY's differential as a 4 spider diff. The service manuals for 05 thru 07 indicate that there are only 2 "pinion gears" in the locking differential for the XTerra (and the Titan also) - Nissan refers to the spider gears as "Pinion Mate Gears". Also for the locking diff the "differential case assembly" which contains the spider (pinion mate gears) and the side gears is a non repairable part (as you stated) and cannot be disassembled.

Some interesting but perhaps not very useful information, the 350Z R200V limited slip differential is a 4 spider (pinion mate) unit. Part number 38425 are the spider gears.

GraniteX... yea sorry i was looking at the picture.

im not sure if anyone will know this but how strong is the non locking C200 rear diff that is in the S model? and does it have 2 or 4 spider gears?

hokieXterra22 ,

The C200 is 2 spider.

I got an easy fix. Chromoly axle shafts and about 5 lbs of Weld sticks.

GraniteX wrote;
"I am curious about how you identified RiNkY's differential as a 4 spider diff. The service manuals for 05 thru 07 indicate that there are only 2 "pinion gears" in the locking differential for the XTerra (and the Titan also) - Nissan refers to the spider gears as "Pinion Mate Gears". Also for the locking diff the "differential case assembly" which contains the spider (pinion mate gears) and the side gears is a non repairable part (as you stated) and cannot be disassembled."

Reply;
If you look at the picture you see that the housing is closed. That you have to remove the ring gear and then you can split the case to get at the spiders. On the the 2 spider diff, it has a large opening on both sides. That allows you to see the spiders, cross shaft etc. On the 4 spider diff, the case has to be closed so the other 2 shafts have material to be mounted into. The difference is so plain that once you understand it you too can tell at a glance.

Reply;
The C200 is smaller in every aspect. The ones I've been into have only been 2 spider. But on the other hand if they don't have the machined down axle end gear, it may be more reliable.

2005 OFFROAD has a 2 spider/ changed to 4 spider for 2006-2007 OR
Info from Project X2/nissan
from there learnings .

Ok, with that in mind how many 06-07 people have blown rear diffs?

I'm not so sure of your conclussion on the '05 only having the 2 spider diff.

Both RiNky and I have '05s with 4 spider diffs.

Another fact; I ordered a new rear end for my racer and got an '06 M226. When I opened it up it only had 2 spiders in it and it was a e-locker. This was the rear end I ran at the Parker race. It made 137 race miles and broke the spiders. "So go figure"

So Lloyd, you might only have (2) broken spiders. That is really more like what you discribed as what you heard.

Mine is a late 05 build tho - October 05! Maybe first part of 05 they did the 2 spider!

Hmmm, I am going to have to pull my cover again and look. I have a rather early 05 build of March 05.

The 2 spider gear situation would definately explain it, what a rediculous design. I realize none of you were at the hill when mine blew, but you cannot emagine how easy they broke and how little noise it made. People watching were amazed it broke.

So the 4 spiders should be tremendously stronger? But yet Xterra Racer is still chewing through them in races?

Hopefully I can get a letter faxed off to Nissan today and kick them in the butt. Clearly if I have a 2 spider gear diff they dont have a gear to stand on!

Oh, and I wanted to thank everyone for how nicely this string has gone, trying to work out a very complex problem so everyone knows what to expect, what needs fixed, and how to advise Nissan.

Very disconcerting to hear about so many broken Xs and Nissan's lack of support. I may reluctantly sell my 33" tires and go back to stock size.

For those of you fighting Nissan, I finally had success after a prolonged struggle to get them to give me an alloy spare wheel (mine came with a steel spare - was supposed to have been alloy). The bad news is that it took a lot of time.

Just an FYI both front and rear diffs have been broken with the stock 32" tires. 1" over is NOTHING. So that wont save you. With BASIC over engineering our diffs should be good to 35". If we are breaking with stock 32" tires that means they are engineered for????

Note to all;
The 4 spider diff made over 700 race miles before it broke the splines on the axle end gear. It will take more than normal offroading to break one. I run at speed on the gas on and off the ground non stop.

Sorry, I looked, but what size tires are you racing?

2 points. First, while racing is sure MUCH harder then what we do on average, rockcrawling would see some stresses similar to racing, however on a limited basis and maybe some stresses you dont see. The other point would be I think most people aspire to 35" tires eventually.

So, so far for the rear diff 05 people will need to get them replaced when they explode with 4 spider diffs, and then we should be ok for a 33" tire or so?

Then a future upgrade to hit 35s?

Now to get what 14,000 diffs replaced under warranty for 05 Xterras 72M or so!

More food for thought....Will this result in war between Nissan and Dana? Such as with Navistar and Ford? Did Nissan ask for a cheap diff? or.... Did Dana short change Nissan on engineering?......

I'm not sure that statement would be correct. Sure if you are a serious competiton crawler, the stress put on the driveline is extreme. But the type of crawling you could do in a IFS vehicle isn't going to be anything near the stress of a high speed desert race.

I would love to see the type of rock crawling you are talking about.

This it the type of crawling I do...and the X handles it pretty well.

That looks about like your average, difficult, rocky trail. The trail I broke on may have been a bit steeper, but the ledge you are climbing is much larger then the rocks that broke my diff.

I actually climbed a ledge like that earlier though. You wheel like those photos and you will loose both diffs eventually, it is only a matter of time.

Lloyd,

State Farm in Bloomington Illinois has a department called the C.R.A.S.H unit. They track vehicle problems and push manufactures for recalls. If you google State Farm in Bloomington, IL and get the main number you can call them. Tell them you are the brother of a State Farm agent and see if you can get the number to the CRASH unit. I found them out and asked them about an old 1984 300ZX Anniversary Edition Turbo that I owned had a recall and payment for the fuel injectors that would catch on fire. B/C of the Crash unit I was able to get Nissan to refund me $1000.00 I paid for new injectors, etc. 8 years after I had sold the car! (I saved my receipt.)

Also go to another dealership and tip a service guy and see if he can help you. It wont hurt to do that.
(Much cheaper than an attorney.)

Mark, others have brought up the other dealership and the tipping idea. First, they have my VIN in the system now so going to another dealer wont fly I believe. Second, what they are doing is wrong, and they need to step up and face the music.

I need a broken M226 rear diff unit.
I am still working on getting performance stuff made to solve our problems and allow us to move on. Problem is I have sent out all my damaged units to manufactures and need another one. If you had a failure and had it replaced under warranty, tell me where. I can get it sent to me by Nissan. The dealer sometimes is told to scrap the pull out. If you have one that trashed itself not under warranty and you want to help the process, I need it. I dont need your ring and pinion, axles or the housing, just the diff carrier itself. Keep all the other stuff as you will need it when the new HD diff comes out to replace the weak ones.

PM'd ya Dave.

Thanks bud, I will follow up on this.

READERS,
This does not mean I got one! I am still looking.

We will see where and when mine goes as well....

Just to add to the extreme conditions that racing puts on the vehicle... I have wheeled Moab many many times... rock crawing at its best.

What Dave puts the XterraRacer is 100x more pounding than the trails we do while rock crawling. If you consider that the 4 spider made it 700 miles, the replacement 2 spider made it 138 miles (I broke that one!), and the replacement 4 spider made it the entire 250 miles at the last race... the 4 spider is definitely stronger. Having riden with Dave now for about 500 miles of racing I can tell you that this is extreme testing on the parts that everyone has in their Xs. Eventually everything will fail... the real joke is the front diff... 3 miles the first race I rode, then 13 miles the second race.

My X is a very early 05 and I am sure it only has the 2 spider... I'm worried and wonder if there will be a recall... would be nice!

Great thread, keep it going.

There are definately some advantages to having a race team on board. I am convinced the 4 spider diff will do the job now, once my attorney gets one out of them.

But I am betting we will need an upgrade to make 35" tires a longterm, reliable option.

Yeh, the front diff....That is a ground up rebuild. Trying to keep that in the front diff string.

Dave, I think you can tell those aftermarket suppliers the market is heating up for front and rear diff fixes.

Believe me they know. I forward these threads to them. I even send this stuff to Nissan as I feel they need to know how the owners feel. I talk with them about this stuff. I cant say I know what they plan to do, or if anything will be done.

Be patient parts will be here to fix our problems.

I had a silly thought today as I picked up GPS on FS trails where the X blew up, hoping the Titan would not. What if the reason for gearing the differentials so high is due to such weak differentials. I mean everybody has wondered ,why so high geared? There would be so much more spunk, and capability with better gearing. I have thought it was gas milage or such. But maybe they had to take stress of the diffs......

I have been wheeling that way for a year and a half. I have blown the front diff...but oddly it was on a slight incline with a bit of mud and limited wheel spin. So far the rear has been fine...I just watch the wheel spin now a lot closer than I use to.

That seems to be the story, rather then the exception. These breaks occur with no warning and not under very extreme conditions at all.

My second Xterra trip was to Baja and I wheeled way harder climbing out of Mission Impossible. I would have never emagined the rear diff letting go when it did.

xterraracer

Perhaps the next time you crack open one of the 4-spider diff cases you could snap a few pics so we can all see what the innards look like.

Perhaps the next time you crack open one of the 4-spider diff cases you could snap a few pics so we can all see what the innards look like.

Sure thing!!! I will try to do that this week as I will be inside a trashed "warranty" one.

So, since the new Jeep Wrangler JK also has a D44 variant with an e-locker, I wonder if JK owners are going to be seeing broken diffs too? Or is it just that Nissan has built a line of vehicles where the diff is the weakest link, instead of something cheaper to replace?

That's a good question. I know the two axles are similar. What the Jeep does hove on it's side is less power.

I mentionned earlier in this post that I had a jeep Rubicon with 33 tires and my friend with 35 tires both with Dana 44 and locker and very serious wheeling for years and not a single problem related to the diff . I do not know if Jeep kept same diff on JK.

Jeep had problems with the knuckles on there Dana 44 Rubicon axles, but they were upgraded for the J/K.

I think the key here is a Dana 44 can be made with weak components, and there are better units then others. Nissan went with there very own, special variant, and it was not designed properly.

The axles/diffs in the new JK's are different than the 03-06 Rubi's. My 03 Rubi is on 35's and I have no fear of diff failure (or axle failure at this point (Alloy USA front/rear).

If I am not mistaken the D44 in the new JK's are close to the M226 in the X's. I am trying to confirm this.

I drained my M226 ( with front and tranny...)at 10.000 KM( not miles ) and refilled with new Syn just to remove break in particles . I can't believe how much little wear things were stuck on my drain magnet and I have not wheeled it yet a single time

Did you see actual metal particles or the grey sludge that sticks to the drain plug? The sludge is normal.

I am wondering if given 3-5 years instead of the 2 years so far, whether some of these diffs might start just exploding from street use even? Simply from wear and the high torque loads of these engines?

The more I get into this I think the 05 Xterra should see a 100% front and rear diff recall, along with 04-05 Titan rear, Xterra Front all years, Frontier........$$$$$$$$

Grey sludge sticking to drain plug but like almost chick pee sized and oil coming out was silver color except at the end a little dirty golden oil color

That's normal.

This is the reason why people should change their gear oil around 30K miles. Most think that they can just forget about because most of the public doesn't talk about it, but just like any other metal on metal parts, you are going to have a break-in period.

I just got a used 2005 4WD S model it sounds like all the 2nd Gen's are having this problem but I was wondering is this happing more on models with the locker and models with the 2 spider gears I read this entire post and that is kind of what I have gathered. This post is sad I wanted a second Gen 4WD so bad now all I can say is f@*k. Is there a way to know from the VIN number if you have the 2 or 4 spider gears.
I guess on a good note I do not off-road all that hard mostly fireroads some mud here and there. I know this does not save me but i am looking for some light here.

SLMH - if it makes you feel better I have wheeled my X pretty decently and I believe due to its very early production date it has the 2 spider. No problems here. (yet)

Enjoy it and realize that if it does go out there will be replacement parts.

What we are seeing is under extreme conditions it becomes the weak point, as are U-joints in straight axles and CV joints in IFS.

The racer was one of the earliest 2005 models and it had a 4 spider original equipment. So I don't know about the production date being the deciding factor. It may be a model difference. Mine was an OR 4wd 6spd.

Not mine. I've been out six times in the last six months with my '06 Off Road model with locker. I do understand the difference between the skinny pedal and the fat one and tend to be adverse from spinning my tires wildly. More so that others. I do follow the instructions on the use of the rear locker and pop it on and off as required to get though a difficult 25-50 worth of trail.

I still have the stock tires for the time being and have always had a concern for the additional spinning mass a larger/heavier tire imparts. Newton wrote laws, not suggestions. I'm looking for an after market tire as close in weight to our stock ones.

Tread lightly.

Well...

Foot...meet mouth...

I blew my front diff again yesterday...and get this...in 2wd and on the street!

So...guess it's going to go in and see what they say.

Ok, that confirms my street theory. Nissan? TIME TO STEP UP! RECALL NOW!

Sorry you have to put foot in mouth Muzikman, but I think most of us have gone through denial over this situation, it is just too unbelievable.

On a Montero with 35s you avoid full throttle action ONLY when the tires are turned hard over, and you will NEVER break a CV. Violate that rule(and somtimes you have little choice) and blammo.

BUT, that is a far cry from exploding spider gears with stock or 1" over tires and little wheel spin, or ON THE FREAKIN STREET!

Thats official then, no matter how long it takes the legal system to get Nissan to cough up my first diff these vehicles must not be taken off-road until upgrades are ready, or risk getting stranded.

I fired up the old 250,000 mile Montero today and plan to to get it workable for a few trips atleast until I can see if Xterra Racers solutions will be out soon, and viable or whether detail and trade in is the way to go.

It is amazing how fast a car company can creat enthusiasm and sales, then crush it due to a few failures......

Ya know, Lloyd, I was just at GONE Moab and, unless I'm mistaken, only one, that's right Lloyd, ONE, 2nd gen Xterra/Fronty had an issue with an exploding diff and that was because he didn't listen to his spotter. There also wasn't one single '05+ last year that had a diff explode. If it's such a HUGE problem why didn't more of these instances take place in one of the most likely places in the world?

Actually most Moab trails are really easy. It is rare to see breakage in Moab. Just the nature of the terrain, very friendly.

One instance sounds not too bad. But how many total Gen IIs were there? Was it stock tires?
Just curious.

The problem is serious enough that I KNEW there would be a diff failure in Moab. Admitedly I expected 2-3.

Dear God, Llyod. It's not the difficulty of the trail, it's the composition of the slick rock. Grippy surface meets spinning tire mass should = lots of breakage according to you. There were quite a few 2nd gen's there (I don't have a total for you) and this was a front the blew up not a rear. But by your logic, every single 2nd gen with anything over stock size tire should have had a rear diff failure on the WAY to Moab and if they were lucky enough to get there unscathed then they surely should have failed simply because there is better traction on slickrock than most metropolitan roads.

I agree that the front diff was designed poorly, as for the rear I don't agree with you at all. I would not be shocked to find out that Nissan received a bad batch of one of the components of the rear end.

Chef, problem is, Xterra found the problem with the M226 w/ e-locker rears...the side gear (I think he said on the passenger side) is very thin to make room for the locker. This seems to be what is failing in the rear diffs on the OR model.

This is my 2nd front diff (replaced the last one almost exactly a year ago).

There is obviously something wrong here and unless Nissan is going to keep replacing the diffs for us, we need a solution. I really hope what Xterra Racer is working on does the trick.

I get it, Muzikman, I do. Honestly, what percentage of M226 rear ends have had an issue? You have a high concentration of owners that like to off-road their vehicles on this site. Off-roading tends to break things, or make them wear out faster. Now, while I agree that Nissan needs to do something, a recall might be a bit extreme. I have a feeling that the reason Lloyd didn't get what he wanted from Nissan had a lot to do with his attitude at every step of the process.
I have faith that Xterra Racer's new gear coming down the pike will solve the issues you're having, but things like this take some time to get resolved.

I was on the hell's revenge run with the Nissan contingent which included the X with the Titan V8, and a stock 2008 Xterra (same as current models). They certainly didn't baby them. I was surprised the 2008 didn't break something on rubble trouble - the engineer "drove it like he stole it". Massive wheel spin while bouncing over ledges. I would never drive my own vehicle as hard as the 2008 was driven. I was actually fairly impressed with the durability. They also abused an Armada pretty heavily and it held up great.

Once.

Now let's see him do that every other weekend for a year and see how it holds up.

My problem is, without a current aftermarket, something that should only cost me a couple hundred to fix is going to cost thousands. I live by the you have to pay to play, but when paying costs $2500 a year in just diff replacements, I am not going to be able to wheel much longer.

As for the rear, I have not had a problem with it yet...knock on wood, but this is my 2nd front diff.

Good news is, MAD offroad in OH is working on a drop in D44 for the front diff...now we just need gears for the rear (Nissan uses some off the wall gearing).

Yes, have him do it every weekend. My story....

I purchased my Xterra early on, in May 05. Did my first Gone. While the slickrock is sticky, spinning tires is rare, or limited. I have seen people whip vehicles to death on ledges beyond there capability in Moab, but as an older, more conservative 4x4 veteran, I dont on easy, sticky Moab trails. The truck bottoms out so bad I am greatly concerned about other construction, and I see some terrifying wear on older Xterras, including week front clips, suspension and engine mounts. But have nothing to worry about yet.

Feb 06, I do a trip to Baja. By now reports of mostly blown front diffs are starting to come in. The trip trashes stuff on the truck and much of my camping gear due to the bottoming out design flaw. I park the truck until it can be fixed when I get home. I also get 5 flats with the stock Flat Trail T/As. BUT, I run alot of hard Baja trails, including Mission Impossible, consisting of boulders and ledges, very steep with decomposing granite. Feel like an idiot without a winch or another vehicle. ELSP continues to impress me. AFter that how the heck are guys blowing diffs???

April 07, diffs front and rear are blowing like crazy. I stop my build up and go 33s instead of 35s. Again, I wheel Utah fairly hard, as Utah goes. No problems, but the net has me scared now so I am MANY times more gental on the gas then my old rig. I run two short trips to evaluate 4x4 trails for the Trail management process FS, and drive ULTRA conservative.

May 07, A SERIOUS problem is clear now and I am planning to go to Gone but cancel more difficult trips until fixes come out. Why risk a new truck? I go out to another area to GPS trails for the FS when I break on a moderate incline. I have done it now...or have I? Almost no gas, limited wheel spin..couldnt be! Yep, and it is the rear. Now here I sit. Nissan says it was taken off-road and they were not meant to be taken off-road!( I know, it was a stupid lackey, but he is all I could talk to)

The point of all this is, it becomes a matter of imperical IMPRESSION. I have not seen this as a big problem, so what the heck are those guys doing? Then BLANG! I also think it may be the gears weaken with repeated trips, and many dont wheel the trucks new. Whatever, the design flaws are being understood. We need to fix them, and Nissan needs a solid position on the huge warranty expense ahead that wont expire until 60K and 5 years. Thats 2009-2010 for the 05s alone! And all years have the defective front!

Everyones warranty will run out eventually, then they'll make a bunch of money from the deal every time they replace one

I don't expect we will see a recall, after all - it doesn't pose a big safety threat, which is about the only reason they would recall.

Oh, I don't see a recall either.

UPDATE:

After actually getting some time to look at it (this weekend has been a bad one all around), it's not the front diff, but the rear that is blown...so this fits even better into this thread. I have an early build (March 05) OR model. I have just over 41K miles on it and wheel all the time. The front blew last April and now the rear.

What bums be out is that the thing is undrivable now. I was hoping it was the front so I could pull the half shafts and still drive it around on the street until I got the Jeep inspected and back on the road. So now, the next couple days are going to be a marathon finishing the Jeep, getting it inspected just so I have something to drive back and forth to work in.

My guess, they are not going to cover this as I am pretty heavily modified, 33" tires and the rear shock and swaybar brackets (yes the swaybar is removed) are all beat up. So they are probably going to call it abused.

They should have my attorneys letter by now, I will let you know what happens. You describe my exact problem. Problem is, they are marketed as an off-road vehicle, and even have said logos on the side. There is nothing in the owners manual about not wheeling either, or what is abuse. Nor the warranty. And we can prove this is a engineering design flaw. They will have a tough arguement....

Good luck Lloyd, hope it works out for you.

Well I went to Moab, and witnessed the blown front diff incident... It was a little too much skinny peadal (whell spin), in conjunction with slick rock === BOOM!

Anyway, there were four new gen X's (I was one of them) and one new gen fronty (that I wheeled with). I dont think i saw the 08 xterra (that would make five x's). So a total of Five or Six weak front ends, and only one blown. that I guess Should sound bad... but I was expecting worse! I babied mine alot. But now with 35's im really goning to have to watch what I do.

Anyhoooo, I cant wait for a new solution to be presented, whether it be from a recall, or from an aftermarket supplier. Good luck to everyone and I hope I dont join that special club of broken diffs.

I've been reading the other site forums on this topic.
I want you all to understand what parts I am working on for our problems.

I am currently developing a solid billet steel spool for the M226 rear end. This will accept the stock 32 spline axles. This will be something that the more serious offroaders may want, but not your daily driver. The rear stuff will come along faster since it also fits the Titan. It has been made clear that the market is Titan driven. I have also found that Detriot does make a "TrueTrac" locker already for this rear end. AC has them for around 5 bills. The axles are plenty strong so we do not need to address them. So if you need a diff for a daily driver AC has it now, if want something more its going to be a few more weeks. I think the spools will cost about the same, 5 bills.

The front end stuff is being done by a major vender to remain undisclosed at this time. With Nissan being envolved on that developement. I sent them samples and gave them a lot of input as to what we need. I told them we need a 4 spider clutch type diff and stronger CVs/halfshafts. I mentioned a 45lb. break-a-way point earlier but know that it will need to higher than that to do any good for a serious offroader.

The gear sets should be out very soon for the rear. They said they going to produce 4.11, 4.88 and 5.13s. Again since they also fit the Titan they will be out first. They are still working on the front end stuff for us R180 guys. Nissan is working on getting axle/cv stuff from another vender.

Believe me that when something comes out you will know it same day!

Wow, that's interesting.

Just looked, I don't see them listed on their site.

Wow, that's interesting.

Just looked, I don't see them listed on their site.

Maybe this will help. Remember to look under Titan. Same rear end. Check out their aluminum covers too.
http://www.4x4parts.com/public_html/shop...575bb96acf4ada1

Ahh, ok, I was looking under Mechanical lockers. I missed that it was a True Trac.

Well, that gives those S and X model MT's folks something to play with.

It will actually work for anyone that has to still drive on the street. If you blow your factory elec locker and it is not warrantied. I bet it will hold up better than the factory unit did. Since it is not electric it will not be machined down causing the weak spot.

I would prefer a selectable locker for even the rear. Does this mean a fix for the weak E-locker side gear is not possible or practical?

I have not even pursued that path, nor do I plan to. I think ARB will come out with a locker a soon too. So you will have switchable type, a LSD and a spool to choose from. With the gear sets we will be set for the rear end. Then we just have to solve the front diff problems.

Are you sure that ARB will be making a locker for the Nissan D44? Since there are mostly E-locker units? Trying to remember....was there another model that come with an open 44?

Any manual tranny 2nd gen has the Nissan 44, regardless of trim level or locker option.

Ok, that is what I was thinking. Hopefully ARB will see a demand for a rear locker then. ARB should probably be made aware that the E-locker units are also part of that demand as they must be replaced for serious wheeling and larger tires.

Start e-mailing, writing, and calling ARB USA. You seem to be the most vocal out of any 2nd gen owner on this board when it comes to needs for upgrades...my $0.02

I will. I pushed hard with them for stuff for my old rig in the past. ARB seems quite easy to get along with.

Ok, I talked to Steve at ARB. Basically they have had axles in Australia since 05.

His comments were....

1. They have not seriously looked at anything yet.
2. The differentials for the Titan, X and Frontier are so poorly and under-engineered THEY are concerned about working with them!
3. They were worried about over heating of the D44.(I explained I thought this was an issue fixed in 05 with the bigger cover on the Titan, but I couldnt confirm that was what he was talking about)

Ok the spool deal is happening right now!
Heres your chance for a bullet proof fix for your Nissan M226 rear end. These units will be done in the next few weeks. They will be a direct bolt in, use your same axles and ring&pinion set. If you are a serious off roader you will want one of these!!! They wont be for your daily driver, as they will make you have a solid live axle. I am expecting the cost to be around $500 for the billet steel, heat treated unit.

If you want one right now speak up, as I am only doing a limited run. If you miss this run we will need to get enough orders for a second run.

$500 for a spool?

I questioned the same thing, but seeing as it's a custom build, I can see it.

Guys if could be less. It s easier to go down than is to go up on the cost. If somebody wants one they will buy in at $500 and then be happy if it comes up less. I cant for sure predict the price as we have 3 steps with 3 venders to do this. 1st step is machine the billet to shape, 2nd step broach splines, 3rd heat treated. If we were to do a run of a 100 pieces the price would drop way down, but right now it is a very small order.

That was my point. For a custom build spool, that is probably right on track price wise.

Material, programming and machine time all cost money. Got to recoop the programming time some where.

So I wonder how a TrueTrac LSD would work with ABLS?

The problem with TrueTrac is that it doesn't always catch without working the brakes-- but in theory ABLS would pump the brakes automatically. So it might work better than it does in old Jeeps.

Hmm.

FYI

LINK FJ
LINK TACO

Keep update us!

Thanks

Sad. But atleast Toyota seems to be stepping up to the plate on warranty and updating parts, if I read the thread right.

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.

This is posted here for the rear diff being fixed.

I'd say you must be racing desert races in that thing! I know what went wrong with each of the other parts, without asking. What happened to the transfer?

Funny you mention that. My cousin, Grumpy, does photos of motorcycle desert racing.

Photos by Grumpy

As for the t-case. I don't know what happened. It had been finicky for over a year now and I chalked it up to being a four wheel drive thing. Guess it wasn't.

Here's a link to a product quality survey w/ a contact # for a reporter. CALL IT AND BITCH

Called them up. Gave them my number and name for a follow up article. If they do one that is.

Will call them tomorrow. I cant believe your entire drive train is being replaced under warranty, and I have to get a lawyer just for my rear diff, known to be silly weak! Would love to know what happened to the t/case, we dont need that too!

Great new profile Scott .

I am going to ask for a detailed list of repairs. I will let everyone know as soon as I know.

My guess, they won't know.

They will just drop the entire case and replace it.

I think I suggested this before - But drag yours over here to AZ from NM and run a rental car back until it's repaired! Peoria Nissan in particular - Where DBax & Defibvt both took theirs, seem to be pretty good at replacing stuff under warranty.

Your probably right but at least I can try to find out for future reference for others.

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.

I started a NHTSA complaint already. I encourage folks to call in.

Today Nissan told my lawyer to pound dirt today. It was really surprising what they said, many illegal things, rediculous acusations and things that violate there own warranty!

So now we are going through the BBB arbitration process...hopefully surcum and decide it is not worth the cost of fighting a losing battle. Unfortunately if we go to court it will get expensive. So hopefully the BBB will work, and we CAN get lawyer fees.

Here's the Link to the Web Album that shows the Spider Gear pieces from my Rear Diff.

I'm going to try and get some time on the Realtime X-ray machine at work and see if it shows anything interesting. If it does I'll post.

Enjoy.

Did you wheel your truck any? Is it just my emagination or does the way those gears broke look odd? Like a boxed, fractured pattern? Almost like the metal was completely failing? Weak metal? Too much heat? Caused by being sao overwhelmed/ under engineered?

Broken spider gears I have seen before in rigs with large tires and extreme wheeling simply looked, well, broken or stripped. Yours looked like an over baked caked or like they were nuked!

Yeah, I've wheeled for Hundreds of Miles in our Desert and Mountainous areas. There were only a few times where I may have stressed the Diff, but I always crawl using the locker instead of hammering through it.

I would not have known I had an issue until I got the Shrock cover and then had the leak I needed to fix. The Dealer told me that the took it for a test drive when I dropped it off and it went out completely on them. [Just in time!]

It really looks to me (and I tried my best to capture it in the pictures) like the heat treating did not go completely through the gear and the Tooth was pushed off of the gear through shear force. Maybe a solution would be to remove the Spider gears and re-heat-treat them, but I'm not a metalurgist and don't know if that would do more harm than good.

I'm hoping I can get on the X-Ray and find some more evidence to put forth, but I don't expect much from it.

I do feel for you man, but I'd have to say that you and maybe a couple others [that I haven't found] are the only ones that couldn't get it covered under warranty and until there are more of you with 'out of pocket' expenses you'll have a hard time pressing Nissan into a solution.

I hope the Best for you and understand anyones distrust and heartbreak over this, but on the whole my X has been good to me. However it doesn't appear like I'll have it for Hundreds of Thousands of miles like I had hoped. It will get very expensive unless I swap everything out for Bullet proof and then find the next weak link.

Adam

My brother in law does no destructive testing for Goodrich, who make Turbine parts and Jet Engine fan blades etc. I'll see what kind of investigative work he might be able to do on that piece of metal too Adam!

I'll give him one of the two pieces if he can run some additional tests. Thanks!

Arbitration hearing is set for July 25th. Only took 2.5 months! Lets see how it goes....

Good luck.If there is anything I can do as a fellow failed diff owner, let me know.

Nissan is covering my rear diff, it it ever comes off backorder.

That's nice! How did you manage to make them cover it? I think you had said that you doubted they'd cover it because of your mods...

I didn't do anything to make them, they just did. I deal with Pittsburgh East Nissan in Wilkins, PA. So far, they have been good to me and other local club members.

All this crap seems to be up to the individual dealer. I guess it pays to get in good with one.