A question about reliability of nissans

[Gone2Baja]

Hi all, after six Toyota's I am looking hard at a NISMO. I've talked to a few people that love them,I've also read up several Nissan forums but I'd like a broader group to draw information from.

Other than my FJ I've put between 125,000 to 165,000 {and up to 225,xxx before my speedo broke on my '85} Other than normal maintains I've had zero problems with my trucks.
I hope to have the same luck if I do end up with a Nissan!

Any information {good or bad} would be very much appreciated!

I do like the value of Nissan's compared to Toyota's. The two I'm looking at, an '05 with 56K and a '07 with only 27k on the clock. Both are DC NISMO's, when did they go to a larger body?

Thank's Mark

 

[Spikepretorius]

Aftermarket parts and accessories are just harder to find. Nothing wrong with Nissan.

 

[4Rescue]

If you've had no prpoblems with your Toyotas why not stick with the Winner. Nissans are nice trucks for sure but not any nicer then a comparable Toyota... As for reliability there's nothing really wrong with them, although the front Diffs are of concern and are often swaped to the Titians front end for durability reasons (maybe some others can shed some light on what exactly the issues are...) . Aluminum should never be used in diff housings IMO.

Personaly there's nothing in the Nissan lot that could make me stray from the big T... Absolutely nothing. Hell they shared their truck with Suzuki and it ended up looking ALOT better then the Fronty. Go with a Taco, you won't be dissapointed.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Cypher]

Hey Gone2Baja, good to see you over here on ExPo.

As for the front diff, many people have voiced a concern about it. There have been a number of them that have failed on the trail. That being said, the failures usually involved lots of throttle and the "death bounce". Meaning, the driver is using a lot of throttle to get over something and the front end starts to bounce. The front tires loose traction and then bite hard when they come down snapping either a shaft inside the diff or blowing the ring gear. Most of them are broken shafts and very few have to do with the diff itself. I have wheeled the heck out of my truck, and know others who have done the same with no problems with the front diff what so ever. I do think it is important to get a steel plate engine skid, as we had discussed before, which will protect the diff housing as well. I wouldn't call it weak, as you will break the same in many trucks on the road under the same circumstances.

Lastly, I'd go with the 07 if you can get it. All the aftermarket parts will fit it and it is newer. Again reliability is great. I am around Nissans all the time and never see any problems that were reliability related.

 

[4Rescue]

...

As for the front diff, many people have voiced a concern about it. There have been a number of them that have failed on the trail. That being said, the failures usually involved lots of throttle and the "death bounce". Meaning, the driver is using a lot of throttle to get over something and the front end starts to bounce...

AHHHH I see. To be fair, nearly ANY diff will be stressed to the point of failure when you"death bounce" on the front-end Still, I don't understand Nissan's thinking on this one, they finally give the truck more power (first gen fronty's and espescialy Xterra's are absolutely gutless IMO and the S/C just makes them thirsty without adding much power) but then they saddled it wirh an aluminum housed diff wich just isn'tas tough as the old iron one it replaced... What were they thinking??? Still, at least there's a fix for that problem that is flat out bolt in... That's certainly nice.

So more to the point, what is it that's making you look at Nissans instead of Toyota's (wich it sounds like you have alot of experience with)??? Purely curiosity.

My impressions of driving both first gen Fronty's, new Frontys and a new (2nd Gen) X is that they're alot more "car-like" then their Toyota counterparts in regards to seating position, ride, etc... to me that's a deal breaker but to you that might make them a winner, it justr depends on what your wan'ts are... To be fairr, I like my OLD TOYOTAS far better then the newer ones for these same reasons. I like an up-right seating position, and I like my heavier duty frame etc... New trucks these days just don't do it for me.

Cheers

Dave

 

[winkosmosis]

Why does the diff housing material matter in an IFS vehicle?

 

[AlabamaWill]

Because the front factory diff housing in a Frontier may crack if you grenade the front diff... Oh and about the Toyatas; When I was looking at a new truck I sat in the Tacoma and it felt really small inside and the Frontier had more room.

 

[4Rescue]

Why does the diff housing material matter in an IFS vehicle?

regardless of wether it's IFS or SFA the diff still has alot of strain put on it through the Pinion trying to deflect and other assosciated forces (and those NOT related to the pinion as well) remember that force tries to find the path of least resistance... meaning if it's easier to crack the diff and let the pinion and ring-gear go then it is to transfer power out through the axles then that's what it'll do. Remember the Diff casing holds certain parts of the Diff inplace and if these pieces can get out of line then things tend to break either through binding or just brute shearing force...

With the situations described above, the weak link is clearly the ring-gear wich, when "shock loaded" or "death bounced" will tend to shear teeth off or flat out break in half (much more rare but certainly happens)

Anyway, lets' not muddy up this thread with Diff discussions.

To get back on topic: The front Diffs are one known problem but far from everyday occurences so are there any others???

Cheers

DAve

 

[AZ-Ted]

In the 2nd Gen front diff failures (at least mine anyway), it was not the ring gear that failed. Instead the spider gears failed. The teeth broke off and got stuck between the ring gear and the case. With all of that stress on the case, it finally cracked. Here is a pic of the spider gears:

Photo courtesy of Sexy6chick.

EDIT: After Penski61 and I tore the diff down, we could see no damge to the ring gear and no damage to the pinion gear.

 

[nismo4x4]

I absolutely love my nismo...I have an 08 king cab. My dad and I both bought new at about the same time...we actually both went to the toyota lot together. (I too never intended to purchase a nissan) But I decided to go and check one out after reading some reviews. The on road manner of the nismo is just awsome the thing handles like a sports car...to me it definately puts power to the road better than the trd! I feel the cab is larger than the taco too...I am a good sized fella (6'2") and feel a little squished even in the double cab tacoma.

Off road...With the locking rear diff, traction control i havent gotten stuck yet. (I dont really get into mudding just light trails and snow-we get lots of snow!) also if you decided to go with the nismo you will want to get some sway bar disconects (about $10) to increase articulation.

I have also found the ride quality to be a bit better. We do a lot of backwoods camping/fishing/hunting and the truck is real nice on a 4+ hour trip home after hiking and having a hard day.

Reliability so far has been great (I only have 17k so far) but have seen the new generation (05+) with 200k and no problems.

Just my thoughts - I like toyotas, but feel I made a better choice with the nismo.

 

[Big Daddy Chia]

You want reliability. I have an 07 Versa bought new in August 06 that has 166k miles on it already. Adn not a single problem. I have an 05 Xterra with 50k on it and have not had a single problem. I had an 01 Xterra that I put 78k miles on in 15 months and only had a u joint in the drive shaft go out. Nissans are just as reliable as toyotas.

 

[Cypher]

In the 2nd Gen front diff failures (at least mine anyway), it was not the ring gear that failed. Instead the spider gears failed. The teeth broke off and got stuck between the ring gear and the case. With all of that stress on the case, it finally cracked. Here is a pic of the spider gears:

Photo courtesy of Sexy6chick.

EDIT: After Penski61 and I tore the diff down, we could see no damge to the ring gear and no damage to the pinion gear.

This is true and as I had mentioned earlier, more of the failures tend to be the shafts snapping inside the casing.

I also think the 2nd gen Frontier and X feel more truck like than the Toyota offerings. Just as with the FJ Cruiser we have, you sit very low and almost on the floor, much like a car. The Frontier and X you sit up high and have a good amount of distance between the seat bottom and the floor, which makes you feel like you are sitting in a truck. One more item I have been extremely impressed with is the Utility Track. I have my Hi-Lift jack, shovel, and 33 inch spare tire mounted to the track in the bed. When I go camping, I am still able to strap all my gear down for a nice secure load while running the trails to get to camp.

 

[Gone2Baja]

I'd like to thank everybody that has responded! I'd also like to answer a question that has been brought up here and also by friends, 'why go from Toyota to Nissan'? One thing I like about the Nissan is the size, I think in '05 Tocomas got bigger {wider and longer} this isn't necessarily a bad thing I just like the smaller style.
I also feel you get more truck for your dollar with Nissan, I've consistently found Nissan's with more options and less money than a similar Toyota. Toyota holds their value very well, while that's great if you own a Toyota it's frustrating when trying to buy a clean used truck! I started this thread to see if I was giving up reliability if I switched brands but other than the front diff and from everything I've read and heard there isn't much of a problem until people put larger tires {33' seems to be about it} and they really push their trucks. I really haven't found any glaring faults with Nissan's.

 

[DBS311]

I've always been a Land Cruiser man, but I did inherit my wife's '02 Xterra after we had kids and she wanted to start driving my 100 series. As the original owner and with almost 117k miles on the Xterra, I haven't had a SINGLE issue. Not one missed start, not one trip to the dealer for any "hiccup". I've changed the fluids at the recommended intervals, replaced parts at the recommended times, and it has been absolutely flawless. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Nissan.

In my opinion, if looking at the Frontier/'05+ Xterra or the Tacoma/FJCruiser, I'd take either of the Nissans over the Toyotas. I feel the frames on the Nissan vehicles are superior to the Toyota frames and I like the VQ engines.

Man I wish I had a Patrol vs. Land Cruiser dilemma. That would be a tough decision......

 

[4Rescue]

...I also think the 2nd gen Frontier and X feel more truck like than the Toyota offerings...

Gotta completely disagree with you there...THe Nissans are far more car like in every way compared to the Toyotas counterpart... Really, in the dirt, to me there is no comparission the Toyota Tacoma is a far better truck off road, the Nissan is the clear winner on the road...

Ive driven both and I stand firm on this assertion. IF I weer buying a truck that was goign to be used 99% on-road I'd think about the Nissan, but in terms of building a trail rig that see alot of trail time I would go with teh Toyota 10 times out of 10... And comapring the X to the 4Runner, the 4Runner wins hands down every time for me as well. There are certainly some AWESOME X's here on our boards, they just don't do it for me when I'm behind the wheel... The V8 4-Runner on the other hand is intoxicating IMO...

Not that I dislike the Nissans, I just like the Tacoma/4Runner that much more. AS far as reports go thoguh it seems that the Nissans are now as reliable as their Toyota counterparts. Seems like Nissans are good trucks abnd it's all up to wether or not they fit you. They don't fit me, but then I'm not you eh

...Man I wish I had a Patrol vs. Land Cruiser dilemma. That would be a tough decision......

Not if you've driven both... again it's a Toyota Victory by a landslide (70 series LC versus Patrol)IMO...

Cheers

Dave