[Shane06fl]

Any one that has waisted a axle should fire off an email to Dana, this particular tech wants to here about these issues so they can get this resolved. I have had a few more emails with this same tech and he/Dana seems very concerened about the problem. I need to take pictures of my axle ID tags and email them to him. Take it for it's worth but I think Dana is more concerned about their product that Nissan is, but I could be wrong.

here is my response from this email and his reply


You say this is caused from to much bearing grease?? Will the grease eventually stop running out and if so will there still be enough grease on the bearings? I am not a axle expert but I always thought that the gear lube stayed at the gears and never went down the axle tubes so this leaking had me wondering.

DANA tech--No, not solely excessive grease. I have seen some brake backing plates with just grease seepage, from excessive wheel bearing grease application at the plant. However, an oil leak is much more messy/obvious on the backing plate, like you described on your higher mileage truck that had it drip into the rim. That is more than likely gear lube leaking out. Yes, gear lube in this axle design does flow out to the wheelends to lubricate the wheel bearing as you take turns, hills, etc. It is not much oil that gets out there compared to the carrier sump level, but it does get out there. The grease applied at the plant is only for the initial break-in of the axle when it first runs dry, not for the life of it.

You say you would like to know the conditions under which the rear ends are failing. You can always go to that forum and ask, if Dana would allow that ( I know how companies can be) I can also post your reply and leave out your email so other members can get an idea of Dana is doing to improve the product. I won't do this without your consent. This is a heated topic at Titantalk.com.

Dana Tech--I took a good look at the forum thread you posted and the government site referenced in that thread. I got a good idea, thank you for point it out. I would not mind you paraphrasing in the forums what I've said. I can only say so much I hope you realize as we are in process of improving our product. Please keep in mind, we have to work with the customer to meet the standards/requirements they give us and sometimes we have to prove to them, that their standards/requirements are not high enough for the application. It is not easier said than done however, many hoops you have to go through to prove this and make this happen. It all comes down to money in the end and people are not always willing to give it up easily.

I would appreciate the photos of each axle tag, when you get the chance and please keep me posted on any issues you have. You seem to be fairly detailed in your descriptions, I like that, as I can relate to the product. Perhaps I can learn a few things from the owners in the "real-world" application of this truck/axle.