[gearheadloco]

Hi everbody!

I'm a newbie on the forum, but I've been in love with my Titan since March of 2004.... Other than my wife (20 years in April) this is the longest (happy!) relationship I've had!

So I have a 2004 XE crew cab 4WD without the Big Tow or the Off Road package, which gives me a tow rating of about 6500 pounds. Nissan installed a factory hitch and hitch harness a few weeks ago, and gave me a harness for the electric brake controller under-dash connection.

Just bought a used 26 foot 2005 Eclipse Attitude toyhauler with a UVW of 6035 pounds, and GVWR of 11000 pounds. I also have 5 quads (I have four kids) and two 250cc dirt bikes, for a total of about 2000 pounds of toys.

When I went to wire in the trailer brake controller harness, I found that there is no pre-wiring for the trailer brake controller on a 2004 XE. Called Nissan and they confirmed this.

Now what? Should I get a schematic from Nissan and splice it in myself?

Finally, Nissan corporate tells me that I have a 6500 pound tow rating (instead of 9000-plus) because I don't have:

- Larger alternator
- Larger battery
- Different transmission gearing
- Larger transmission fluid cooler?

with the Big Tow or Off Road packages. At the same time, the mechanics at my local Nissan dealership tell me not to worry, that all Titan's can easily pull a 6000 - 9000 pound trailer. They said this after they replaced my rear end under warranty when I mentioned that I was about to start towing a big trailer (Nissan is great!) Who's right?

Should I install an aftermarket trans cooler to be safe?

Thanks!!!!!
Phil in San Diego

 

[SirKeats]

wait... so you told your dealer that you were going to start towing a large trailer and they replaced your read diff even though the read diff wasn't broken? was anything at all wrong with the read diff (e.g. leaking, rusty, making funny noises, etc.)?

i have the stock 04 rear diff, but it's fine. i'm going to start towing though and am a bit worried. just curious how your replacement came to be because if it's just a matter of telling the dealer that i'm going to start towing, i'll take my free replacement! lol.

 

[baseballfanz]

Being that it's an 04 there were no BT option for the XE that year. All Titan regardless of year BT or not has two tranny cooler built in. The BT package does not have a bigger cooler over the non BT.
With the weight you mentioned I wouldn't even try it with a BT equipped Titan. Better off looking at a 3/4 tons truck if you want to haul that much weight.

As for the e brake, you can still wire it up, you just have to tap it instead of just plugging it into the harness.

 

[gearheadloco]

On the rear axle question, a buddy from back east with a 2004 XE 4WD asked me if I had received the recall notice on the Titan rear axle. I had received the letter from Nissan on the front brakes and the center rear seat belt, but nothing on the axle.

I pressed my buddy a little, and he said it might not have been a recall, but that a lot of Titan owners back east were having issues with the OEM Dana rear ends in early Titans. Growling, leaks, etc. Most of these folks, he said, encountered the problem while towing large (> 3-4000 pound) trailers.

I mentioned this story to the service manager during routine maintenance at my local Nissan dealer when I started shopping for a toy hauler, and he said he'd take a look. In San Diego county where I live, towing toy haulers means going to the desert - not a great place to blow up your rear differential!

Nissan called later and said that yes, my rear axle looked like it had leaked a little, and they were replacing it under factory warranty.

This Nissan dealership is really exceptional, and the service manager is a nice guy - and a toy hauler himself. So whether the axle was really leaking or he just thought it would be good to play it safe, I can't say. But I'm not complaining about a shiny new $3K rear end!

Phil in San Diego

 

[loufish]

I'm a little confused, why did you buy a trailer that heavy when you already knew you don't have the tow package?

That so-called empty weight is going to be off by at least 500 lbs, and a lot more if you fill the water tank!
Plus your towing capacity is reduced by what ever weight you load into the truck(wife, kids, wood, etc, etc) over an empty truck wjust a single driver...

Your truck has a Gross Combined Weight Rating of 11,800 lbs, if the truck is loaded to 6500 lbs, that only leaves 5300lbs of tow capacity left...Your truck has a payload rating of 1424 lbs...and it can go quickly...