Cypher
Full Time Traveler
During the recent Sedonafest event in Sedona AZ I ended up breaking the driver's side CV shaft in my 2007 Nissan Frontier while on the Broken Arrow trail. The shaft broke while I was attempting to go up the staircase which I had made up the previous day with no problem. The manner in which the shaft broke was very strange. There was never any loud pop, bang, or grinding noise which is usually associated with this type of breakage. The passenger in my truck at the time and those standing around also never heard anything. When the shaft broke it was as if I had lost all traction and could not go any further. The entire time I was not using excessive amounts of throttle nor did I get the front end “death bounce” that breaks CV shafts all the time. After I felt that I had lost traction I attempted once more to find out that neither of my front tires were making any attempt to move as if I was in 2wd, which is when I knew something was wrong. I backed down and inspected the truck. It was immediately evident what had happened when I noticed the driver's side CV slightly pulled out from the front differential. I limped off the trail and back to camp which was only about 2 miles away with no issue. The next day Aaron offered to come up and help remove the broken shaft and replace it with a spare shaft that he had (thanks x's 100 man!). Unfortunately, when the shaft broke, it broke off far enough into the differential, that we were unable to remove the rest of the broken shaft without opening the diff since the snap rig was still holding it in. It was at this point when it was decided that the front diff, the other CV shaft, the engine skid, transfer case skid, and front drive shaft would have to be removed before the rest of the drive back to Phoenix. After removal of the broken shaft and a closer inspection it looks as if the shaft just crumbled apart especially since there were small pieces of metal that were found about 0.5 inch by 0.25 inches and looked almost like rocks. These pieces looked as if they had just fallen off with no sheering.
That week I was given the contact info for Mark Wille at ABC Nissan on Camelback in Phoenix by the guys from Nissan4Wheelers. After initially talking with Mark about warranty coverage for the broken parts I dropped the truck off at ABC Nissan on Wednesday Night. Thursday morning I got a call from Mark indicating that Nissan determined the failure was due to an overheated diff which caused the gear oil to loose it's viscosity combined with a defective CV shaft. The overheated diff was also starting to cause the differential gears to lock up. With about 34,000 miles on the truck, Nissan decided to cover the front diff and CV shafts under the factory warranty and replace them with new parts. While the truck was in for warranty work they also replaced the secondary timing chain, timing chain tensioners, a number of seals, and the engine mounts which were discovered to be loose and close to complete failure. Total bill for all the warranty work was $7,800 which includes labor, parts, and shipping I would assume. Through the entire process I made it very clear that I wheel the truck and that the breakage occurred while wheeling. It does not take an auto technician to look at the truck and tell that it has been used for wheeling and plenty of it. I am very please Nissan stepped up to the plate and took care of business regardless of how the truck has been used.
Best of all, Mark so graciously had all the parts shipped over night air so that I could get the truck back quickly. Saturday morning Mark called and indicated the truck was done and that a tech had stayed until 9 pm on Friday night putting everything back together. ABC Nissan and Mark Wille really came through on this one, as they have many times in the past. I have purchased 4 vehicles from ABC and will continue to do so for these exact reasons. I highly recommend you see them for any of the issues with your truck, especially Mark Wille who was consistently honest, helpful, and willing to keep me informed throughout the repair. Thank you Mark and ABC!!!
I will now be drilling/cutting numerous holes in my Shrockworks engine skid to help the heat around the front differential to escape and increase air flow around it. I have to wonder if the many long trips I take in the truck contribute the overheating. I have driven the truck to Denver CO and back along with dozens of long trips to all parts of New Mexico/West Texas and back. I will also now be changing my front and rear diff oil with synthetics at around 10K each to help avoid oil breakdown again.
Here are some pics:
Roadside Repair:
Beautiful day for a road side repair!
Lots of great friends just waiting to make sure I got back on the road safely after offering more help than I could use:
Having fun getting Semi-trucks to honk while passing by:
It's out!!!
Breakage:
Black black black burnt gear oil:
That week I was given the contact info for Mark Wille at ABC Nissan on Camelback in Phoenix by the guys from Nissan4Wheelers. After initially talking with Mark about warranty coverage for the broken parts I dropped the truck off at ABC Nissan on Wednesday Night. Thursday morning I got a call from Mark indicating that Nissan determined the failure was due to an overheated diff which caused the gear oil to loose it's viscosity combined with a defective CV shaft. The overheated diff was also starting to cause the differential gears to lock up. With about 34,000 miles on the truck, Nissan decided to cover the front diff and CV shafts under the factory warranty and replace them with new parts. While the truck was in for warranty work they also replaced the secondary timing chain, timing chain tensioners, a number of seals, and the engine mounts which were discovered to be loose and close to complete failure. Total bill for all the warranty work was $7,800 which includes labor, parts, and shipping I would assume. Through the entire process I made it very clear that I wheel the truck and that the breakage occurred while wheeling. It does not take an auto technician to look at the truck and tell that it has been used for wheeling and plenty of it. I am very please Nissan stepped up to the plate and took care of business regardless of how the truck has been used.
Best of all, Mark so graciously had all the parts shipped over night air so that I could get the truck back quickly. Saturday morning Mark called and indicated the truck was done and that a tech had stayed until 9 pm on Friday night putting everything back together. ABC Nissan and Mark Wille really came through on this one, as they have many times in the past. I have purchased 4 vehicles from ABC and will continue to do so for these exact reasons. I highly recommend you see them for any of the issues with your truck, especially Mark Wille who was consistently honest, helpful, and willing to keep me informed throughout the repair. Thank you Mark and ABC!!!
I will now be drilling/cutting numerous holes in my Shrockworks engine skid to help the heat around the front differential to escape and increase air flow around it. I have to wonder if the many long trips I take in the truck contribute the overheating. I have driven the truck to Denver CO and back along with dozens of long trips to all parts of New Mexico/West Texas and back. I will also now be changing my front and rear diff oil with synthetics at around 10K each to help avoid oil breakdown again.
Here are some pics:
Roadside Repair:
Beautiful day for a road side repair!
Lots of great friends just waiting to make sure I got back on the road safely after offering more help than I could use:
Having fun getting Semi-trucks to honk while passing by:
It's out!!!
Breakage:
Black black black burnt gear oil:
