2001 Nissan Frontier Wheel bearing failure

bobincinti

Hi everyone. I wanted to let everyone know of a problem that I had with my 2001 Nissan Frontier this weekend that is a serious safety issue. Here is what happened.

My Nissan Frontier has 152,500 miles on it. Over the weekend a wheel bearing in the rear axle failed. With 152,000 miles, I have no problem with this repair. However here is the safety issue.

While I was driving it, the tire / axle assembly seperated from the pickup and went into traffic. It tore my brake lines and I lost all hydraulic fluid when I realized what happened. The tire / axle also went into on coming traffic.

Luckily no one was hurt, but the truck has sustained about $1500 worth of damage. Has anyone had a similar problem with Nissan vehicles?

scratchman

Hmmmm...My truck has 154,000 and when I took off the rear hub to do a brake job I noticed grease all over the rear brake assembly...yep wheel bearing failing and leaking grease all over the works. Maybe Nissan needs some new bearing makers?

bobincinti

What type of Nissan Frontier do you have? If it was a 4x4 version Nissan had a recall on this and you should take it to the dealer and they should fix it free of charge.

Do me a favor and write the NHTSB about your problem as well. I reported this to them and they have not received enough complaints to force another recall. The info is as follows:

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.9fee1be6b2b2000bc22cf3749000- 8a0c/

I sent the NHTSB my parts and they concluded that water got into the axle via the ABS Sensor and caused rust. But they told me that they were not going to do anything about it.

I would also contact Nissan customer service about this issue and report it.

Bob

scratchman

I have a Crew Cab 4x4 and I had the truck serviced under the recall and the damn bearing still failed. This is a major job and the labor costs are expensive as hell. I'll write a letter to the NHTSB - I'm a letter writer anyway especially in this case.

bobincinti

Do yourself a favor and take it to the dealer to have this serviced. I had mine serviced by Monro Tire and Brakes and they did a hatchet job on the Axle. The dealer had to re-fix their work. They broke the ABS gear putting the axle together and the mechanic actually used copper wire to plug the gap. Ran it for 12,000 miles and then the wire cut the grease seal and it leaked all over the hub. Had to have it done a 2nd time.

I sued Monro and their insurance company sent me a check for almost $1K. The insurance agent said he never saw a bigger hatchet job of a repair.

bobincinti

If you talk to Nissan, please let me know what they say. I fought with them and wrote letters and they told me to pound salt. Nissan customer service number is (800) 647-7261.

If you talk to the NTSB, tell them this is similar to case 10240574. I had my Frontier serviced for the recall and the wheel actually came off while driving.

Anyone who has this vehicle should inspect their rear bearings ASAP and report it to the NTSB and Nissan.

scratchman

This truck has been fantastic in that I have never had to put any money into it except for brakes, battery, oil changes, and tires. I mean nothing went wrong with this truck and I live in very rural Oklahoma on dirt (not gravel but good old red clay)
roads and my father owns a large cattle ranch(1600 head and about 4000 acres) so this truck has been driven in the pasture, through creeks, dry washes, deep gulleys, swampy low ground, and hilly, rocky scrub oak woodlands feeding livestock, pulling calves, hunting strays and just checking on the cattle more times than I can count. This is my 4th Nissan truck, 3 of them have been 4 wheel drive and I have always got my money's worth out of them, this one included when you consider that this is the first problem I have ever had with it and it has 154,597 as of last night. I talked with a former Nissan mechanic who has his own Nissan Repair Garage last night and he gave me a rough estimate of $450.00 including a rear brake job and replacing the wheel bearing on the other side as well. As long as he is going to be in there working on it I might as well replace the wheel bearing on the other side (driver rear) as well...don't you think? This included parts/labor and sounded pretty good to me but I was going to call the dealership today and get an estimate. The former Nissan guy said that he had done several of these and he sounded like he knew what he was talking about, plus he knew about the recall on the wheel bearing because of the ABS sensor leaking. I'll let you know what I find out from the dealership.

It sure sounds like you jumped through some hoops in getting your truck fixed, do you still have it or did you end up getting rid of it? I'm glad you settled with the Chain Service garage because often those places will screw you over and wait for the next person to do the same if nothing is said or done about it. Thanks for the interest and advice on the Frontier.