Just checking to see if there is anyone else out there with a similar issue:

At 35000 miles passenger front axel came loose from the differential. A "C" clip came loose and allowed the axel to slide out approx 1 inch thus causing gear fluid to drain. Nissan replaced the axel and all hardware. Now am at 60000 miles and it has happened again ... Nissan will be taking care of the issue (I have a GREAT Mechanic & Service Advisor here in Indy).

The only "mod" with the suspension is a Daystar 2 1/2" lift for the front which levels the beast and was installed at 8400 miles.
http://nissan.off-road.com/nissan/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=193946

Sounds like an isolated incident - did you off-road hardcore?

I see you have rancho shocks - did you add these or are they the SE OR ones? (just ordered some 9000 adjustables).

No hard core off-road use ... just use Forest Service "roads" and trails in Southern Colorado and the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Rancho Shocks are OE ... The dealer ordered and re-installed them after it was delivered. The towing package deletes the Rancho shocks - go figure!

Just got my mada back, 53k and 2 diffs in two months later
i hope it won't happen again. Exact same symptoms. Clip came loose, drive line slid out, front diff went nuclear. There was no off road use at all, wifes daily driver.

UPDATE: Mechanic replaced axle assembly (right side) including clip under warranty. This is the second axle and the third time it has come out. The second time we replaced the axle and differential. The differentials are on national back order. My mechanic says that this happens when there is a known problem ... hopefully Nissan will come out with a permanent fix soon! All three times this has happened when we use the auto or full-time 4-wheel extensively. All three times the axle came out during the winter when we use the auto & full-time more often.

I have the same problem. It came out once they popped it back in, but now I'm over 36k miles. I do have the extended warrenty so hopefully they will fix it with no charge to me.

Is this only happening on the front? This seems pretty serious...lets keeps this thread alive until we find out if Nissan is addressing it. Has anyone posted this over at CT?

Yes, so far it has been only on the front (for me). The front drivers side axel to be exact. The first time I took it in they said they popped it back into place and if it happens again they will have to replace the seal. But, I think it may need more than that based on what others are seeing.

ok, I checked Nissan TSBs and only came up with this...

On some 2006 model year Nissan Titan and Armada four-wheel drive equipped vehicles, there is the possibility that the bolts attaching the front drive shafts to the front final drive assembly may not have been tightened properly. This may result in the front drive shafts coming loose and cause a vibration or noise in the vehicle front end. If the front drive shaft becomes disconnected, it may be damaged or cause damage to other vehicle components. However, the ability to control the vehicle will not be affected. Nissan is conducting a Service Campaign to retighten the front drive shaft bolts to the proper specification.

It doesn't quite sound like the same issue but I don't know very much about the front assembly.

Here is the link to Armada TSBs
http://www.nissantechinfo.com/nissan/TSB/TSB_xml/nmsection.asp?mscssid=&mseries=%20Armada%20(TA60)%2004-07

Yeah, not the exact same problem but it is kind of intresting that mentions 4x4's because mine is a 4x4 too. When I took it in the first time they asked if I got it stuck because that could have caused it but, there is no way. My Armada hardly ever gets dirty much less is it put into conditions where it would get stuck!

I just hope when I take it back in they don't charge me to fix it. I would think they won't since they had it in there once before with the same problem.

If the diff. is on national back order, then apparently there is a problem. Hopefully they will send out a TSB or possibly do a recall. At least we know about it now!

Yes, so far it has been only on the front (for me). The front drivers side axel to be exact. The first time I took it in they said they popped it back into place and if it happens again they will have to replace the seal. But, I think it may need more than that based on what others are seeing.
ok, I checked Nissan TSBs and only came up with this...

It doesn't quite sound like the same issue but I don't know very much about the front assembly.

Here is the link to Armada TSBs
http://www.nissantechinfo.com/nissan/TSB/TSB_xml/nmsection.asp?mscssid=&mseries=%20Armada%20(TA60)%2004-07


GREAT FIND Razzlee!!!! I think that this could be the cause of a high-pitched vibration noise that I've been hearing from my drivetrain (specifically the Front Driver's Side). It's too cold right now for the noise to act up so the Tech was having a hard time duplicating it. After the weather warms up enough to get the noise back again, I'm going to point this out to him.

THANKS !!!!

When I got mine back the first time it started leaking out of the breather tube withen two weeks of regular highway driving. When I took it back I was told that the replacement Diff that was installed was assembled incorrectly and cuasing it to overheat. Hopefully it was only mine assembled incorrectly and not a hole batch. Maybe that explains the backorder.

Mada300z, Welcome to CA!! Your avitar is hilarious!! Did you do that mod yourself or did it come OEM? I guess Horse Power wasn't enough!!!LOL:D

I was not charged and my Armada is at 60,000 miles. The drive train has a longer warranty (I believe 100,000) and all Nissan fixes come with a (I believe) 12,000 mile warranty. So you should be covered. Note that mine is the passenger side. So far only the front and with the differentials being on National back order tells us there are issues ...

i wonder if the lift had anything ot do with that?? a spacer lift like that causes the axles to be at more severe angles, and could possible be putting to much strain on the c-clip in the diff. also, you said this happened when you were using the auto mode a lot. i was just thinking about lifting mine, so i'm very interested here....

i wonder if the lift had anything ot do with that?? a spacer lift like that causes the axles to be at more severe angles, and could possible be putting to much strain on the c-clip in the diff. also, you said this happened when you were using the auto mode a lot. i was just thinking about lifting mine, so i'm very interested here....

FYI, mine is not lifted and is comp[letely stock as far as the suspension is concerned.

OK, guys.. so I dropped of the Armada at the dealer Tuesday night. I get a call from the service department today... Long story short they are going to have my Armada for atleast a week. The guy said they have to replace the axels and the diffirential but, it is on BACKORDER and they can't let me have the Armada back the way it is. Sooo needless to say I swung by there on the way home and they gave me an Altima to drive. I asked the service manager if this was a known issue and he said no, then I told him about the group on here talking about it and I asked him if the thought it was strange that the parts are on backorder but, it's not a "big problem". He said he'd see what he can find out. I'll let you know how things go. OH, yeah one thing I foudn intresting is on the service sheet my tire size was hand written on there, (I have 22" wheels) it made me wonder if they were going to try to blame that for the problem but, I guess that didn't pan out because he said this is covered under the 5 year 60k powertrain warranty.

Well, it has been a full week now... and I still don't have the Armada back. I talked to the service department and they "expect" to have the part sometime early next week now. I know it's not the service departments’ fault that it's on backorder but, they "expected" to have the Armada back to me Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.

They gave me a Nissan Altima as a rental, and it's not a bad car but, I called them yesterday and told them since it's going to be in there over this weekend that creates a problem for me. We have had a trip planned, and I need to be able to pull my ATV trailer, and obviously I'm not doing that with an Altima. He told me that there is nothing he can do but, he will call Nissan and see of they will "up" the rental car allowance and then get me a truck or SUV from enterprise.

One thing I will say is that with all of the problems I've had with my Armada, Auto Centers Nissan in Alton, IL has been pretty good to deal with from a service perspective. I hope they can come through for me with an upgraded rental! I will be disappointed in Nissan (not the dealer) if the they decide not to up the rental car allowance, after all Nissan is the one that is slowing the process down but having this part on backorder. I know.. I know Nissan most likely doesn’t "make" the part but, the bottom line is they are the ones that obviously have a problem here, and they are the ones responsible for getting enough of these parts in stock to handle these types of issues.

Nissan Titans have rear diff problems. I really have not heard about this issue with the Mada. What years does this seem to affect? This may be an early production issue.Good Luck Madaman.

My Armada is a 2004. I've got about 39,XXX miles on it.

I do have some good news... Nissan told the dealer to get me whatever rental car I wanted. So, I went back yesterday afternoon and they gave me Nissan Pathfiner. Still not Armada size but, it's a little better than the Altima.

I told the service manager it wasn't really about the car being a bead car, I really needed something I could tow my ATV trailer with. They guy really want above and beyond, he called all the different rental car places and none of them allow towing under the rental agreements they have. I suppose it makes sense from an insurance point of view. When he called me he told me if I knew of anyone that would rent something to me that I could tow with, he'd be happy to cover the cost. The other option he offered was to rent a pickup from U-haul. While that was a good idea, it would have been a single cab, not to mention it would have had Uhaul plastered all over it and I really didn't want to drive around with that on there. But, my point is simply Auto Centers Nissan really exhausted all resources to find something that would work for me.

It's kind of funny, the Pathfinder has a receiver on it but, there is a big lock bar through it so you can't tow with it.

At this point I'm still expecting the Armada mid to late next week.


:crikey:

The differentials are made by Dana (http://www.dana.com/). Maybe if we start hammering them directly? My Armada is a 2004 very early production. My first problem happened at 32,xxx and I was on Vacation. The dealer there popped the axle back in and it got me home. At 34,xxx my dealer here in Indy (Tom Wood Nissan) replaced the diff and axel. I just passed 59,xxx and instead of waiting for a new diff we replaced the axle and clip. I think Dana has a problem with their differentials and they do not know how to fix them or they have fixed them and are behind so the new vehicles get them and we wait.

Has anyone found a service diagram of this?

I had one of my clips pop out this weekend when upgrading the front shocks. It popped back in, but kinda worries me.....

Thanks for sharing info on this potential problem for other members. Please keep us advised of any future developments.

Now that the snow is gone i noticed a puddle of oil under the truck, its pretty thick and smells like gear oil.

Any one out there with the frony diff / axle probs notice and gear oil leaking from their trucks???

We have used auto / 4wd pretty extensively the last 6 weeks

tia

tg

You have officially noticed the symptoms ... the gear oil is from the differential. When the axle clip fails the drive shaft "pops" out approx. 1 inch, and that allows the differential to leak is life's blood! Make sure your dealer replaces the clip and the axle ... My investigation showed that torque was the culprit. Now you have confirmed the results. Not good for a 4x4!

Make: Nissan
Model: Armada
Year: 2004
Mileage: 84000

I dropped my truck off at the dealership yesterday due to a problem with the 4wd not engaging. I was driving on assateague island (beach) when turning around to go to a spot to fish. I lost 4WD and ended up bottoming out my truck. So they spend all day inspecting the trucks electrical system with the solenoid etc..etc..etc.. They come to determine that my passenger side front Axel came out. How the F does that happen? Anyways, they determine that as the issue because they slid the part back into the xfer case and the 4WD would engage. The service manager said that this was the first time he has seen this problem. The prices of repairs for a new front passenger side axel, axel seal, front and rear differential service was $700. Since is just a differential replacement, Im thinking about doing the work myself to save the cash since its the holidays... Just wanted to add my situation to the pool.. Anyone know where I can get the axel and seal for a reasonable price?

Welcome to CA carnagebeatz!

Glad you finally posted. Sorry it was under these conditions though! Good luck. Have a safe Holiday Season!

Welcome to the Club!!!

As far as I can tell, that Axle appears maybe to be called a "Drive Shaft" in the parts catalog (seems backwards to me :rolleyes:).

http://www.courtesyparts.com/betasite/armada-ta60-2004-2007/genuine-nissan-parts/power-train/391-front-drive-shaft-ff/-c-1063_1064_1128_1145.html

$400 for the assembly still seems like alot to me so I think I may have found it on YourNissanParts.com for $222.19. If it was me, I would call them to clarify at 1-866-782-6255.

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getJointLocator&siteid=214914&chapter=&sectionids=23,0&groupid=10047&subgroupid=20112&componentid=60447&make=25&model=Armada&year=2005&catalogid=1&displayCatalogid=0


Hope that helps a little.

Thx Alot, appreciate that.. Im thinking that if the part is 400 and they are going to do all the work for $700 with a rear and front diff service. I might as well let them do the work. Thanks alot guys..

Before you spend $$$ make sure that Nissan (Not your dealer) will not cover the repair. This is a KNOWN problem to Nissan and they have a new design (allegedly). The issue is the clip holing in the axel ... not the axel or the differential ... if you get it repaired with the same parts it WILL happen again ... Mine has come out THREE times and the third time after we installed a new differential and axel assembly from an 04 Titan that was on my dealers lot! NOTE: Only happens when you USE the 4WD system in full time 4WD (HI or LO). Fortunately mine has only happend in snow and not in the back country. I will be seeing my mechanic this week (for my 03 Z) and I will hit up the manager to find out if Nissan has issued a fix. Print this post and take it to your dealer! I use Tom Wood Nissan in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Before you spend $$$ make sure that Nissan (Not your dealer) will not cover the repair. This is a KNOWN problem to Nissan and they have a new design (allegedly). The issue is the clip holing in the axel ... not the axel or the differential ... if you get it repaired with the same parts it WILL happen again ... Mine has come out THREE times and the third time after we installed a new differential and axel assembly from an 04 Titan that was on my dealers lot! NOTE: Only happens when you USE the 4WD system in full time 4WD (HI or LO). Fortunately mine has only happend in snow and not in the back country. I will be seeing my mechanic this week (for my 03 Z) and I will hit up the manager to find out if Nissan has issued a fix. Print this post and take it to your dealer! I use Tom Wood Nissan in Indianapolis, Indiana.


Will definately do so, thanks again... Ill nissan first thing..

Id rather be in the back country than on the surf where a high tide can total your baby!

Thanks againhttp://www.clubarmada.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5725&d=1197237211

HAVE OFF-ROADED IN BOTH ARENAS (1998 Dodge Durango - totalled Christmas 2003) AND WOULD NOT WANT TO LOSE 4WD IN EITHER! My Armada is still a virgin, but not due to desire! With the 4WD issue, I am glad I waited! Picture Last big trip ... leaving the main road for an 11 mile backcountry expidition on the Continential Divide which took 3 hours! "Road" is not a smooth as it looks ...

you cover still you have powertrain warranty 5 year or 60,000 miles.axle is part of the drive train

When installing the prg front lift, had one of my axle shafts pop out. Put it back in and no probems since knock on wood.

Hey H-this, where is that picture from? Looks like an old mining road in bear country?

This has me concerned. Anyone seen a TSB on this yet??? Isn't there a stronger Clip or longer Shaft available to fix this??? Titans are getting quite a bit of it too.

Here's a recent one:
http://www.clubtitan.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42315

Good question.

Have not had any fluid leakage since my install. Been off-road a lot too.

Bump - any TSB anyone?

just check underneath and no oil leak..Now the left is making the noise as wells...wells sounds scary driving down the road w/ an unsafe vehicle causing danger to other pplx..will bring it in to the stealership and have it chek out tomorrow morning keep yah updated if is the same issue above. thanks everyone again for your help.

anyone have any updates? my part is still on order....

anyone have any updates? my part is still on order....

I had the same issue with mine and the dealership had to replace the whole front diff. About $1500.00 worth but I was at 59,500miles when I saw it so it was replaced under warranty.

Yep, new to the forum and mine is currently at Nissan Service as I type since yesterday. I thought it was a fluke and then I literally stumbled on this thread. I was here to get Pops schematic diagram to install my new avic-d3. Fortunately, my axle will get here within a week. I do have a concern. I've owned my 04 for thee years and I never went 4wheeling. Used the the AWD in the snow and that's about it. I sure hope they figured it out. Only had 46K on it so it was still covered under the warranty. Other than the occasional warped rotors, I've had no other problems. Should I be looking at an 08?? Someone tell me before I load this new nav unit in.

Welcome to CA alicarito.

I can't see you buying an 08 just because of this. I got over 60K with no problem on my '06. (Knock on wood!)