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OT: Mother Ship is out of here! 2nd Diff broke!

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Shealey

Shealey

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Some of you may remember I have a 914 Porsche I converted to a 300+ HP 928 V8. The car is lovingly known as the Alien.

We traded in our V6 Nissan Xterra for a V8 Titan as the V6 wasn't up to the task of towing the Alien through the Mountains. So considering the Titan is my wifes, we called it the Mothership.

We've had the worst luck with the truck. The first Diff broke at around 7000 miles. We had the warentee service done a week before the first event! We bought this truck to tow the Alien out to the West Coast Classic 05 in So Cal.

Five days before the event the diff broke. It took 6 weeks to get it fixed. Nissan wouldn't loan us a truck so we could keep our vacation plans intact. My options were to drive the car at great risk to the event or not go.
We never towed anything with it before the first failure.

Now just over 36000 and it broke again. We still haven't used it to tow more than my 12' trailer with the 914 (twice) and the MGA (once) I put a plow on it last year but it was such a bad plow truck I gave up trying to use it to plow after 4 tries.

Were hoping the "60,000 mile Power Train" warentee covers the rear axle or were Fuched! We just have the last basic warentee done two weeks ago. Just went over the 36000 mile basic warentee!

Anyone ever had this happen? We luv the truck, but CRAP! that's it! Were selling the truck as soon as it's fixed AGAIN!

BTW: When we had it in last, the service manager told us when they changed the diff under warentee they failed to install the vent in the new diff. They were to order one and call us when it came in. Guess what... No call. Now they'll get to add that vent to the second diff!
 
Wow, my 00 Nissan minivan pulls my midget everywhere, horses in their covered trailer, and at times exceeded the tow capacity with a cargo trailer. I've had a few Nissans, but never a 4wd to experience a bad diff. I'd get a Land Rover if I needed extra grunt. I just hope that this isn't a pattern for Nissan that leaves you high and dry and out of pocket.
 
Wow. I would have thought the TITAN had stronger parts than that. I've owned one Nissan - a 1995 240sx, and I loved that car - the engine was more suited to a truck though - lots of low end grunt, but not revvy. My dad had a mid 90's nissan 4x4 truck that he liked alot with a v-6.
 
I have a 95 Nissan Pathfinder. It's pretty spent now, but it's got 170k miles on it, and it's been a great, trouble free vehicle.
I'd keep it longer, as it runs great, but it's got some hefty frame rot, and the rust is popping through on the body.
Sorry to hear about the Titan..maybe check out a Tundra. But I think installing a plow on a Tundra voids the warranty.
 
My first new vehicle was a 1979 Nissan pickup. I kept it for one year in which time its 5 speed transmission went out twice and I got rid of it after the last transmission rebuild. About 3 months after I traded it off a guy calls me one night and wants to know if there is any warranty left on the truck cause the transmission was out again. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonod.gif
 
One word comes to mind when it comes to towing, epscailly if you end up going the enclosed trailer route, "Powerstroke". They will nearly pull anything and get better milelage doing it and get better mileage than the V8 gas trucks when just tooling around town. It's hard to beat the diesels when you start towing stuff.
 
Re: OT: Mother Ship is out of here! 2nd Diff brok

FWIW- just bought an '06 4runner v6 to tow with, used it 1,150 tow miles to Stowe & back, and love it. Because we were on Interstates much of the trip, just punched the cruise control and let the 5-speed auto do it's thing. Had some good sized hills in PA NY and VT, got 17.4 mpg for the trip.
 

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"""""""" The first Diff broke at around 7000 miles."""""""

surely a Titan will tow what......5000 pounds?

Look in your owners manual and see what the maxtrailer weight is.....and the combined weight.

I would think the car is mebbe 2600 and an open trailer is 1200 and spares thus about 4500# ?

The big question might be....what actually broke in the diff and how can it get the PROPER fix/modification?

You mention a housing breather......."forgot to install the vent".......maybe pushed all the lube out? Someones not paying attention??
 
All the Titan ads I've seen quote a 9500 lb tow rating - it's one of their advertising points - highest tow rating in it's class.
 
The first time the diff broke we hadn't used it to tow anything yet. At 7000 miles we wanted to wait until we had some break in miles. But not broken miles... Yes, the Titan advertises 9600 and the owners manual confirms it.

I heard from the dealer today. The diff has broken spyders again. Man, that sux. I mean we bought the big tow, off road, locking diff, etc. I've never had a diff break. Not even in my 500 hp drag car. This is my wifes daily driver. It's a tar baby. Not like she would off road the thing. Sheezz!
 
Re: OT: Mother Ship is out of here! 2nd Diff brok

So you'll be looking at the 2007 F150?? Rated to
tow 10500lbs...

SteveL
 
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