Today was arbitration with Nissan over the blown rear diff they will not warranty. Here are some hight lights.....Random thoughts....

1. They sent a heavy hitter from Tenessee with substantial credentials.
2. They continued to behave VERY badly.
3. They are spending thousands to fight my diff replacement, while standing on shakey ground.
4. They brought up the "abuse" line again, but seemed to retreat on that issue.
5. The main thrust of there argument remained after market parts. They gave up the brush shields argument, but became well prepared to argue the Calimini lift is responsible for the diff exploding!!! Guys, I am NOT joking. They claim the Caliminin lift is un-authorized and caused an out of spec pinon angle...ok, yeh that is the STUPIDIST thing I ever hear of. The arbitrator was chosen due to vehicle knowledge, and was by this point becoming clearly agitated by the rediculous statements from Nissan. I had to have the thing towed to the arbitration. I pointed out the pinon angle IS correct(even though that would never blow a diff)and the shims. They totaly sand bagged Calimini, I cannot believe it. They HAD Calimini design the freakin lift.
6. Nissan requested a third party vehicle inspection, another delay to wait on...then a ten day wait for arbitration results....
7. The whole event was so rediculous that my attorney basically decided going to court is an excellent choice if they dont honor the arbitration.
8. Nissan continues to seal there fate on future sales.
9. The Nissan rep had NO KNOWLEDGE of the differential design flaws, including the spider gear fiasco!
10. He insisted the Titan diff is different because of a different part number. Well, yeh, it has different mounts and such. But the internals are the same....GOOD GRIEF! They were prepared here also, knowing the Titan disaster would surely come up.
11. Also claimed I fourwheel too much, 6 times in 2 years.
12. Argued I didnt use the 4x4 right???Ok, uh...

Sounds like they're looking for a needle in a haystack.It is strange how others have had no problem getting theirs replaced, but you've had to engage Nissan to have yours replaced. And of course they're gonna fight you tooth and nail: they don't want to set a precedent. At least it seems the arbitrator may be unbiased and knowledgeable
Good Luck.

Keep fighting it. It took nearly a week of me fighting Nissan consumer affairs and the dealership to get mine covered. Tell them you want the proof on paper in your hands about why they will not honor your warranty. Include the exact way the lift caused the failure. Mention the magnusson moss act, and talk to the dealership general manager.

Damn.
Got a front bugflector? Better take it off before they tell you the additional downforce it caused on the front lifted the rear of the truck by which changed the pinion angle just enough to cause the diff to fail.

Good luck, I hope you get your truck repaired.

Just walk a picket on the sidewalk in front of the dealership. Saying something like ' DON'T BUY A POS NISSAN XTERRA----ASK ME WHY

That will get their attention. This should have been honored by the dealership. You bought the truck from a dealer, not Nissan direct. the dealership should have repaired it and took up the fight with Nissan. Not you.

He's well past the dealership general manager. He's now to the big shots at Nissan. I have a feeling that by the time he is done it's going to cost him more than if he just paid for it, but I am glad he has faught it.

Geez. An 18-wheeler fuel truck totalled my car in May. Hadta go back and forth with them for weeks to get them to pay the right amount. It's amazing how much these companies will spend to avoid setting a precedent of any sort.

Good luck. What dealership are you dealing with? I have had nothing but bad luck with the Nissan Dealerships in CO Springs. I've heard there's a great one in Denver, though.

Start looking around for a rear out of a Jeep. I know of 2 Titans up here that are using Jeep rear axles.

Won $12k in arbitration with my wifes injury claim after she got rear ended. The chicks insurance company then appealed and it went to court, where we only won $4800 (Not even enough to cover medical bills). Going to court isn't always best. Glad you are sticking it to them tho, if you win then that case can be used as a reference for anyone else going through the same kinda crap.

You didn't get enough to pay off medical? Wow. How does that happen? I figured you would be guaranteed at least that.

Lloyd, good luck if it goes to court. If Nissan allows it to go that far (aka, they don't agree in mediation to pay you off), they're going to try to make an example out of you, in case there are others out their in the future. Corporations are VERY protective of their designs, and if you're challenging their design (which you are) in a court of law, no offense, but I'd expect you to lose.

We don't know the true specifics of it all, so honestly, we don't know what really happened to the differential. It *could* be a shitty design, or it *could* be a defect, or it *could* just have been your unlucky day. No way web-warriers can make that call!!

But one thing is for certain. If Nissan is actually spending more money than the differential is worth to replace, then they're doing it for other reasons than to just piss you off. I hope you have enough $$ to play in this hornets nest, 'cause if they want to justify their design in a court of law, they will bleed you dry. Any company would, 'cause they can't afford for the next hundred dozen people standing in line behind you to get replacements unless it is absolute certain the diff exploded due to a design flaw. Good luck!

Well, see, if it's a design flaw, Nissan would go back to Dana. Nissan did not design or build the diff, Dana did. So, if it comes down to a design flaw that they have to spend lots of money to fix, then they will turn around and go after Dana.

Jury decided that the $5800 of care for Whiplash was to much after the insurance company brought in their $400 an hour (He testified to that) Professional Chiropractor Witness who testified accordingly. So we got screwed. Luckily we had $5k in cover from our own insurer Geico.

Yeaa - we got fucked! lol

This much I do know about the law: If this case goes to trial and Nissan prevails with their arguments and wins the ruling...It will establish a precedent whereby all subsequent claims for damages to diffs on lifted trucks could be summarily (summary judgment) denied without additional recourse.
Within days Nissans legal dept's will memo dealerships with new instructions on how to deal with subsequent cases.
This is way bigger than Lloyds diff.....They will fight tooth and nail.

All that I can say is "Wow". This is why I use an older beater for off roading. It does suck though. They built an Off Road X with a diff, and they try to tell us to keep driving safely on the street. That off roading is not allowed. What a crack of Sh*t. For anyone reading this, try to make buddy/buddy with the service manager. If you're make good enough friend, he will jump hoops for you. If not, just make friends. Best of luck in this case though. I personally think that Nissan will not hold up in court, and everyone will know that. All parts were designed for Nissan with their input and authorization. Make sure that the lift was installed by authorized rep. Or, at least have paper work to prove that. But sh*t happens.

Well, by the VM I just got from the dealer, my rear diff must be in. They ran across a problem installing it with the the rear AAL (they don't know what the shims are for).

What shocks the hell out of me is that these poorly designed diffs got past two different engineering groups. Both Nissan and Dana engineers. My guess is someone said something about it and they didn't do anything about it and probably never will until they release a whole new model.

It amazes me that when a company puts a badge on a vehicle, suddenly people think it is capable of high-demand situations.

I bought a 2003 Spec V as a work beater---purchased new. Now, because it had red letter "R's" all over the vehicle that supposedly signified "race", did not mean that this thing was built as a serious race car. That did not justify 4G drops at the strip or multiple speed shifts around a road coarse; it's an econobox.

I can't begin to tell you how many people blew engines, tore up transmissions, chewed up diffs only to go onto a forum and complain that Nissan, as a manufacturer was junk. Now there are guys going over 150,000 miles with no oil consumption when many said that would/could never happen--- oh yeah, they do use the car for the occasional road coarse with some of them and some even have been boosted and hold up with no ill aftermath.

Now adays, if a company slaps a badge on something doesn't mean sht to me. It's a plastic badge meant for marketing. If you hammer anything through mud, high water, corn fields or whatever, stuff will eventually break. I can guaruntee that Nissan's first goal wasn't to beat the Rubi, but to offer lockers because their competitor has, not because they want to see a plethora of X's becoming mean rock crawlers. Use and abuse is a very, very fine line in an automotive manufacturers mind; especially when it comes to replacing parts under warranty.

I've seen a local position for the Dealer Technical Specialist for Nissan and I can garuntee you that the first place I would search is the forums so beware. Angry people b*tch about poor service as they should, but when they post their cool wheeling stories online there is the black and white evidence. Don't forget that anything on the net can be used against you because it is in writing.

As far as the differential, as soon as you lifted the vehicle, in Nissan's eyes, you have manipulated their original intention.

Different shaft angles usually burden joints more than the diffs themselves. What blew out on your truck? Was it the side gears or the spiders?

I remember when the lS1 Z28's were hot and heavy. They were notorious for chewing up diff's because GM under specified the rear axle assembly not taking into consideration the amount of abuse the Z could dish out.

Not to be the asshole here but read your warranty that you agreed to when you bought the truck. It specifically states that any part not authorized by the OEM is grounds for warranty voiding in part or whole.

IMO I wouldnt warranty your diff consider there is a lift on the truck for the mere fact that you did alter the driveline angles...granted maybe not much...but still altered from what the engineers intended.

You bought the truck...lifted the truck...wheeled the truck...and the truck broke. Stop bitching fix the machine or dont wheel it and drive a stock one.

Tim

Maybe you idiots ashould read up a little! Only a few wheeling trips, and people are blowing these things with hardly any use. Yes, the diffs are junk and I am done forever with Nissan. They DESIGNED THE FREAKIN LIFT WITH CALIMINi AND RUN THEM ON THERE OWN TEST TRUCKS! AND NO, a freakin driveline angle will not cause spider gears to break apart.

Nissan rigged the TE as well, and sent someone in to claim the lift now causes not enough fluid in the diff to lube the gears! We WILL sue them in court.

Lloyd, you took your brand new X to Moab...remember your old sig? Bragging about running the X in Moab during the "break in period" maybe the break in period is over cautious these days, but it's still in the owner's manual.
Now, before you go off on a tangent about how Moab trails aren't that difficult, I agree with you. But, being that slickrock gives you so much traction any wheelspin followed by sudden traction can and will weaken your driveline components, leading to break down further down the road.
I bet you didn't mention that to Nissan during the arbitration did you?
Good luck in court, hope you have deeeeeeep pockets

Lloyd,

I know your pain man I really do...but from an OEM stand point you did this to your vehicle by adding non-Nissan approved aftermarket parts. All of the OEM's contribute to the aftermarket...it's a good business deal for both of them but the fact is that a mechanical inspection of the vehicle will 100% prove if the breakage was an internal fault (warranty) or owner abuse. If there is a gray area then the warranty work will be approved. Even if your rear diff did just "go out" by driving up with a lift and other mods you become a big red flag to the dealer.

Dont waste the time or money in court because you will lose. The magnusson moss warranty act only protects you if the breakage had nothing to do with your aftermarket part....ie a new intake kit and the T-case grinds to a metal ball.

Nissan can and will easily show that you did knowingly violate their warranty by lifting the truck and modding it out and you will not win...sorry to say it but it's true.

Thats why I personally waited till my warranty was up before I did any major work to my truck.

For what it's worth good luck....

Tim

It's like the time a young individual was arguing that all of the ground straps on his arc plugs just happened to melt off all by themselves.

I told him that I could lean the thing out until it ate a head gasket at the end of the 1/4 and it still would not melt the ground strap off the plugs. I said first, this won't be covered and next time use a bigger fuel jet in your kit and tune it right on the dyno. If I only could have taken a picture of his face.

OEM trucks are built for comfort, not for manly rock crawling.

I know that your pissed because you felt that it should have taken the abuse. As soon as I looked under the front end and saw and alum dif, I knew this was for light duty only. It gives us snow birds warm fuzzies to have 4x4.

Then don't create an Off-Road model with a locker. Don't have commercials with it bouncing around on the rocks. Don't sponsor an off-road team.

...if you don't want it off road.

Just because it has an aluminum diff housing doesn't make it automatically junk. But when you fill that aluminum housing with junk gears, you have a problem.

I feel your pain about exaggerated advertisment.

The problem is though 9 out of 10 times you have to read the fine print that you can't read at the bottom of the screen because it is so small; everyone covers their butt.

Also, just because an axle center section is comprised of aluminum does not automatically wave a red flag as junk---you are correct--- but with my limited 15 years in the automotive industry, advanced level master certification and various other wall hung pieces of paper, I can pretty much guaruntee that an OEM one won't handle much abuse. Remember that abuse is labeled as anything other than it was designed for. Now because it has off road badges, does it really deem it worthy to hang with crawl buggies, or does off road mean a dirt path in Nissan's eyes?

My frustration lies with excessiveness. I say the same thing about Corvette, GT500 and so forth, why build it to do 190 when the fastest limit during the day time is 80 on a narrow stretch of Texas. Now the funny thing is I don't see many corvettes speeding, unless you go onto Youtube. What I do see is a plethora of minivans runing 90 mph with kids in the back. Why build a minivan to limit it's speed at over 100 mph? Why would anyone need to go over 100 in a minivan? I suppose it's a good thing the kids are in a car seat so when the van goes upside down it can be sure to chop the chillin's heads off. SUV's used to be built for the manly men with big forearms who's sole purpose was to use the vehicle through some extreme conditions. You look at Willy's, Jeep, Original 66-77 Ford Bronco.

All tough as nails, but none could easily hit the ton, if they could much get past 60mph, but they would climb like a mountain goat and would not break. Comfort comes at a sacrifice.

If I was a hardcore enthusiast, and wanted to keep my X for some rock crawling, I would call Currie up and set a real axle in place. May cost you 2500-3, but it won't break.

Even those three mountain goats I listed above became legends because of modifications. The Bobtail, you could order a big bearing 9" rear w/ limited slip and compliment the Dana 44 up front with Posi.

You have to remember that most SUV's never see off road, even with cool badges. With that in mind, would you design a harsher-stronger ride and lose your altimate goal---sales--- or a comfy plush ride that can so-called hang with the best on the dirt?

I was wheeling last year with some friends from a Nissan club.

There was this ledge on the trail that was climbed by 1st gen Xs, 15-year old pahtys and hardbodies, etc., all with all kind of lifts, oversized tires, wheels etc. Everything was running smoothly until it was the turn of a 2nd gen frontier. Driver takes the ledge, does nothing wild and BANG! There goes the front diff.

You can argue that the 2nd gen has a lot more torque than the older trucks, but then it wasn't designed for the torque of our trucks.

So it's very stupid from Nissan to put a lot more torque on a truck and put a POS of a diff on it and then blame owners for doing the same people do with older Nissans.