Diff Internals page 2 Diff Internals page 3 Diff Internals page 4
Nissan Titan Rear Differential Failure
The rear differential in my 2004 Nissan Titan 4x4 (with 3.357 ratio and
e-locker) failed recently.
In my opinion, differential failure was caused by weak spider gears
(differential pinion gears) alone.
The diff carrier housing is stout, the carrier bearings are fine quality, the
ring and
pinion are very stout, there are tight tolerances inside the diff carrier
including
spider gears to side gears, spider gears to spider shaft (cross shaft), spider
shaft to
carrier housing, etc. The spider gears are simply the weakest link, and
they gave out.
Input pinion is perfect - not the cause.
Ring gear is perfect - not the cause. Also, textbook (perfect) wear marks.
This is the differential case assembly. The ring under
the top (in this picture) bearing is the diff lock solenoid
Here's a stupid point about this design: There is no bearing on the diff
lock solenoid.
The diff carrier rotates constantly and the position of the diff lock solenoid
is fixed.
There should be a bearing on the inside of the diff lock solenoid - instead,
there are heat marks and light scoring. This did not contribute to the
failure,
but in my opinion its just poor engineering.
Four Wheeler magazine had a Titan diff failure, and claimed the spider gear
shaft pin had sheared, allowing the spider gear shaft to walk, allowing
the spider gears to walk. That's not what happened with this diff.
The spider gear shaft pin drops down into this hole, and is held in place by the
lack
of a hole in the the side carrier cover, which is held in place by bolting the
ring gear on.
The pin is in fine shape.
Diff Internals page 2 Diff Internals page 3 Diff Internals page 4