Driveshaft problems of the 2005 Nissan Titan

I was recently driving my truck down interstate I-95 in philadelphia when I out of no where I heard a low pitched howeling noise, I was passing threw a construction zone so I couldn't pull onto the shoulder and look for a issue. A few seconds later I hear a loud series of thumping and my truck in the blink of an eye is traveling sideways at round 45mph, I swerved and missed several cars and managed to just miss the guard rail and come to a stop. If I was traveling anything over 45mph, it wouldn't have been pretty for a lot of people. I then inspected the vehicle to find that the rear axle had locked up the rear wheels and the drive shaft had torn out of the rear axle. Do to the rear wheels suddenly becoming locked, made the truck near impossible to steer and very dangerous when you consider the size of the vehicle. I had it towed to find that the rear axle had filled with moisture do to a defect in the seal & vent of the set up. I have come to find out that this is a common issue in the Nissan Titan world.

While traveling at approximately 70 mph on a us highway, the vehicle began to vigorously shake and a loud clanking noise began from the rear of the vehicle. Suddenly there was a loud banging noise coming from underneath the vehicle. Upon exiting the vehicle as it came to a stop, I noticed that that the rear drive shaft had fallen off. When attempting to load the vehicle on a wrecker, the rear wheels wouldn't roll. The entire rear differential and axle had seized.

The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Titan. The contact stated that while driving approximately 10 mph, there was a consistent ticking noise from drive shaft. The vehicle was not taken for inspection or diagnosis. The VIN was unavailable. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 122,000.

First heard roaring (wub wub wub wub sound coming from underneath when truck was coasting approximately 45 mph (no accelerator pressed) the faster I was coasting the louder and higher the sound became. Sounded like bad tires, but upon pressing accelerator pedal, noise would completely go away. I took the truck home immediately and called my mechanic to come drive it and diagnose the vehicle. He took it for a test drive, brought it back and told me do not drive this truck; it is too dangerous. Something is seriously wrong with the drive train probably the wheel bearings of differential. He would not drive it to his garage either as he had his young daughter and her friend with him. He came back with another guy to drive his vehicle as he would drive mine to his shop and told me he would put it on the lift and check it out. He drove away. I went back inside and then a few minutes later I see him backing down the driveway. I went out and asked him what was wrong at which time he informed me he heard a clanging and stopped immediately, and upon inspection found the drive shaft had fallen out onto the ground. He found the nut and repaired it well enough to back it to my home down the driveway. He showed me underneath and fluid was everywhere. I could see a definite gap between the driveshaft and where it attaches at the rear axle. He came back with a car-hauler and will inform me as to the full extent of the damage. Thank god this catastrophic failure did not occur on the highway at speed with traffic. I have also had severe brake shake like many, many other Titan owners.

While taking my 05 Titan in for a service appointment (to replace a melted wiring harness from my tailpipe falling off, but that's another story/problem) I heard a soft whine. I reported it to the service manager. He called me back later in the day and told me that it was likely a bearing in the rear differential. He said he couldn't replace the bearing, that the differential was a complete assembly and had to be fully replaced at a cost of $2400. I asked him what he would do, and he said he'd keep driving it until the whine got too obnoxious. So I did not replace it. I picked the truck up on Friday, 9/2/11. Two days later, while slowing down on a highway to make a turn, I heard a grating sound, followed by the truck locking up. When I got out, the drive shaft was laying on the ground. The differential had locked up. Had to be towed. I bought the truck to be able to deliver hay, which with my trailer is about 6,000 pounds. I deliver typically 6 loads a year, and it is about a 10 mile drive to my customer's home. Over 90% of my miles on the truck are highway miles, with the cruise on and in 2 wheel drive. I do not take it off road. I only use 4 wheel drive when we have snow on the ground (2 or 3 times a year). The truck is garaged at home and at work. There is no way the differential should be failing on a full size pickup truck under these conditions. I opened a case with Nissan consumer affairs, and told them that I felt Nissan should pay a substantial percentage of the repair even though the truck had 68,000 miles and the warranty ran out at 60,000 miles. They rejected my claim and paid nothing.

Have a Nissan 4x4 Titan. Bought it new. For the second time the rear end locked up breaking the drive shaft. Good thing this happened at minimal speed. This is extremely dangerous. Nissan repaired the first time due to our extended warranty. They should be liable because they must know the repair they do will fail again. These vehicles with all their problems should not be on the road in my opinion.

The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Titan. While driving 15 mph he noticed that the rear wheels suddenly locked causing the vehicle to stop. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the contact was informed that the drive shaft and rear axle needed to be replaced. There were no prior warnings. The current mileage was 105,000. The failure mileage was 50,000.

I was pulling out of my driveway and began hearing a popping noise around the rear end. The drive shaft started spinning in the rear end gears and lost all propulsion, leaving me stranded in the road.

Drive shaft ripped out of the rear differential. A small ever increasing noise coming from the rear of the truck when coasting. From the very start of the noise to complete failure was about 40-miles, but the noise was only loud enough to hear with the windows shut and radio off about 10-miles before complete failure. Truck is now at the dealership, chances are good new drive shaft and entire rear differential will be needed. It is entirely possible this failure could have caused a major accident. Had the driveshaft not ripped free from the differential, the rear wheels could have locked up, causing the truck to skid out of control.