In Western Mass. Not too much time to take photos. More coming soon.

Ma Bell (http://www.nexterra.org/photos/MaBell/)

http://www.nexterra.org/photos/MaBell/images/maBell%20031.jpg

Got up some rock faces that some of the other vehicles had a lot of trouble with. Got as far as the Jeeps (locked and or lifted) on the steepest face (my camera was full, and Norman didn't know it.) so no pics of that one. All in all, a very techical rocky trail with some deep water sections, but most really tough sections have go arounds. I got winched up one section after making it 50% up, then took the go round on a really hard wall. I did my first major trail carnage trying to crawl around a sheer wall, I was crawling over a rock, when I slipped off to the side, sliding my passenger fender into a tree. Ouch. Had a Jeep towstrap me over away and I went at it from a different route. I can't figure it out, I was at least 6" from the tree then screeeee!!!!! Not too bad. It's the last photo in the batch.

So, now that I had a bit of damage, it was Norman's turn.... I was a little squeamish after that one, and I got up a tough chute that is offcamber and turns sharp to the left at the top of a steep hill. Big rock on the inside of the corner you need to get your rear tire over. I got up and over, then grabbed the video camera to go get Norman coming up, as I ran back to the hill, I heard a loud BANG!!!! I was not 4 seconds from getting it on video. He blew a U-Joint on his passenger front axle. ball bearings, half the U joint housing, and sections of his bearing housing and the boot band were in the dirt. We towstrapped him up to a level point and removed the halfaxle, 6 12mm bolts. pulled it out, stuck it in a bag, and strapped Norman up the next hill. H was able to traverse most of the terrain in 2LO. We got out unscathed (well, any more) and aired up and started to cruise home. A bit o carnage, but a really fun trail, with some insane challenges for the ballsy.

My Damage: a dented quarter panel.
http://www.nexterra.org/photos/MaBell/images/maBell%20040.jpg

Norman's damage: a broken CV joint housing.
http://www.nexterra.org/photos/MaBell/images/maBell%20040b.jpg

http://www.nexterra.org/photos/MaBell/images/maBell%20040e.jpg

Questions:

Does norman have a lift? Does he have his torsions cranked?

The only other person I have heard about busting a CV was Pikachu. What do you think the cause for the failure was? Did he have a lot of wheelspeed at full droop and come down on a rock?

BTW, Autozone has replacement halfshafts for $99 plus core charge at http://www.autozone.com. They probably have stores in your locale.

Nice writeup Matt. I can't tell from your shot, but maybe PDR and some buffing can fix the body panel if you're short on $$$. Looks like my door damage which paint ended up being the big cost factor (feathering it into the original paint).

I'm with Wqbang, wondering what led up to Normans damage. I see stock A-arms, but the angle looks pretty steep. Does he have his torsion bars cranked?

Does norman have a lift? Does he have his torsions cranked?
Yes and yes

The only other person I have heard about busting a CV was Pikachu. What do you think the cause for the failure was? Did he have a lot of wheelspeed at full droop and come down on a rock?
My wheels were steered to the left. I had traction and the wheels started to hop. I kept the gas steady when I should of backed off and tried a better line. I wasn't far enough to the right of the trail

BTW, Autozone has replacement halfshafts for $99 plus core charge at http://www.autozone.com. They probably have stores in your locale. [/B]

They didn't have it in stock. I'm going to check www.nissanparts.cc on monday.

Originally posted by Schludwiller
I'm with Wqbang, wondering what led up to Normans damage. I see stock A-arms, but the angle looks pretty steep. Does he have his torsion bars cranked?

It's the AC a-arm. The gap space is 1" from bumpstop to pad. It was the heavy wheel hop that caused it.

I think the right front was at full droop when the wheels started to hop.

Originally posted by Stormy


It's the AC a-arm.

I thought theirs was silver powdercoat like SLR's. Never have seen one in person.

I'll be buying a fender hammer kit and a sunction cup to try to pop it back out.

No serious crease, so it's fixable IMO.

ok, here's the video of the snap. turn up the volume, and listen for the snap while I'm running. It's kinda funny.

Snap!!!!! (http://www.nexterra.org/photos/MaBell/cvjoint.wmv) WARNING! 4 MB file. But worth it if you've never heard an axle snap before.

some other videos from the day... smaller, better compressed, I left the snap!! hi res, the rest are more compressed.

Me and copilot George W going up CV hill. (http://www.nexterra.org/photos/MaBell/mattcvhill.wmv) Late in this video I ask what that bag is, it's an army sand bag, we later used to carry Norman's axle bits home in.

Just a red CJ going through a puddle and up a hill. (http://www.nexterra.org/photos/MaBell/redjeep.wmv)

Me after getting the dent, and a Jeep to the rescue (http://www.nexterra.org/photos/MaBell/oopsie.wmv)

I called Team Nissan in Manchester NH for the shaft assembly. The price they gave me was $450. Went to www.nissanparts.cc and $342.06 + $34.21 shipping is what they were asking. I called Team Nissan back and asked if they could match that price. The parts guy said he would sell it to me for 331.03 (25% off). Not too bad! The kit that autozone has is just the axle shaft.
BTW - 98'-02' frontier and 00'-02' Xterra's have the same axle/cv setup.

Originally posted by Stormy
I called Team Nissan in Manchester NH for the shaft assembly. The price they gave me was $450. Went to www.nissanparts.cc and $342.06 + $34.21 shipping is what they were asking. I called Team Nissan back and asked if they could match that price. The parts guy said he would sell it to me for 331.03 (25% off). Not too bad! The kit that autozone has is just the axle shaft.
BTW - 98'-02' frontier and 00'-02' Xterra's have the same axle/cv setup.

The autozone halfshaft will come complete. Trust me, I have replaced enough CV halfshafts in my hondas. Chances are the Nissan reman CV halfshaft is exactly the same as the Autozone part, source by the same reman company.

Unless you are set on Nissan parts, go aftermarket. I paid $60 vs $350+ at the dealer for my civics halfshafts.

Try NAPA who carries the exact part Autozone does for $150. I would suggest just driving to all of your local parts suppliers.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t26535.html

Talk to FSRBIKER and find out where he finally got his...

The part that I needed was called the outer cv joint. That's what is included in the shaft assembly kit. It turns out you can order that part, so I did and a cv boot kit. The mechanic at Team Nissan said that the axle is fine. The new total for the repair is $140.

I also talked to the Service Manager about a warrenty claim. I think I have a 50-50 chance of getting them to pay for the repair but I'm not banking on it going by what everyone is saying.

Originally posted by Stormy
The part that I needed was called the outer cv joint. That's what is included in the shaft assembly kit. It turns out you can order that part, so I did and a cv boot kit. The mechanic at Team Nissan said that the axle is fine. The new total for the repair is $140.

I also talked to the Service Manager about a warrenty claim. I think I have a 50-50 chance of getting them to pay for the repair but I'm not banking on it going by what everyone is saying.

The reason I was saying to replace the whole half-shaft assembly (boots, joints and everything) is because it is easier, cheaper and half the labor of rebuilding the joint. The whole half-shaft assembly could have been purchased for $50 less awith half the labor. Of course if it is covered under warranty, the point is moot.

Autozone's site seems to be having trouble, but here is the same part Autozone sells, but at NAPA:

http://www.napaonline.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/NAPAonline/search_results_product_detail.d2w/report?prrfnbr=15581181&prmenbr=5806&usrcommgrpid=32513512

I posted this on xoc too...

First, Thanks wq! for the info. I didn't want to order a part if I was unsure of what I was ordering.

The half-shaft came in and it's exactly what wq! said it would be. Total cost was $99. To clear up any confusion I might have caused, here is a photo of what you get...

http://superjens.com/xterra/cvshaft.jpg

Tire not included:D

Ok,
The whole install of the half shaft took about 2 hours.

Tools required:
· 17mm socket for removing/installing the shock.
· 12mm for removing/installing the 6 bolts on the diff.
· Snap ring pliers
· 19mm for torsion bar bolt.
· 19mm box wrench for locking nuts.
· 6mm hex head wrench for hub removal
· Grease

The first thing I had to do was remove the hub. I just removed the 6 hex bolts, pulled the hub off to expose the snap ring.
http://www.superjens.com/xterra/IMG_0265_2.jpg
Took the snap ring off and had to figure out how to remove the outer CV joint. I think the proper way is to drop to lower A-arm. What I ended up doing was just cranking down the torsion bars. As you can see from the photo the lower A-arm is in the way.
http://www.superjens.com/xterra/IMG_0252_2.jpg
I lowered it as far as I could to get the best possible angle to take out the cv and install the new shaft.
http://www.superjens.com/xterra/IMG_0264_2.jpg
Here it is removed.
http://www.superjens.com/xterra/IMG_0272_2.jpg
Here it is installed through the hub not connected to the diff.
http://www.superjens.com/xterra/IMG_0266_2.jpg
I then connected the other end to the diff.
http://www.superjens.com/xterra/IMG_0267_2.jpg
I figured since I was taking apart the hubs, I ordered the Warn manual locking hubs and installed them.
http://www.superjens.com/xterra/IMG_0271_2.jpg
Cranked the t-bars back up and I was done.

I would rate it moderately difficult but is all basically bolt on.

Hey thanks for the follow-up. Did you decide to lower the angle of your CV joint after this? The install pic looks pretty steep still. Just curious.

Originally posted by Schludwiller
Did you decide to lower the angle of your CV joint after this?

The only way to do that is to drop the diff, remove the lift kit, or raise the upper bumpstop.

Stormy,

I haven't really paid attention, but are the driveshafts different on each side? If not, $99 would be a low price to pay to carry an extra one on the trail; especially on those longer trips.

The Axle shaft is the exact same for the left or right.

Originally posted by xoc


The only way to do that is to drop the diff, remove the lift kit, or raise the upper bumpstop.

I think it's the additional travel that might have caused it. I would thing that raising the bumpstop would help out a little.

Very cool! I am glad everything worked out.

Good info...