What Brand did you use?

 

Like I said, I'm not trying to bash any brand here. Just be warned about the use of a spacer to make JK gears "fit". The failure wasn't the fault of the gear. Using the spacer lifts the gear up off the carrier so there is no pilot diameter engagement for the gear to ride on. Even getting runout to a best condition didn't help when eventually the gear slides just a bit and the bolts start working loose. They provided the standard length bolts, so each had 1/4" less engagement. Even with red loctite and torqued properly, the whole setup is doomed. I'm a machinist. I should have known better, but hind sight is 20/20. The replacement set is from Yukon and they are made to the same thickness as the Nissan stock.3.36 gears were. No spacer, full bolt engagement, and the gear sits down on the pilot on the carrier. These should outlive the truck. Suffice to say that Yukon is the only manufacturer I found that doesn't need a spacer, or mention one. I don't know if tgat includes their US gear line or not. I had to ask because they didn't mention it, and every other gear set did. The gears were installed correctly the first time. Double checked, and measured by myself and a mechanic friend. Wear patterns even looked good, what you could see of it, the damn thing just came loose. And it did it so slowly that I never heard it, and I know every squeak & rattle on that truck. The tech at Yukon told me that's why they've been making the Nissan gears for 10+ years was because they wouldn't space a gear like that. So if you're in the market, make sure whoever you buy from is not using a spaced out gear. You'll be sorry like I am.

 

dang. that sucks. i have never even heard of spacing a ring gear in a diff. i learned something from this

 

That's how a lot of companies sell them for our trucks. The gears are the same as a Jeep JK series Dana 44 except that the Nissan is about 1/4" thicker due to the orientation of the centerline of the pinion and carrier. I've seen write ups about guys that have used them, but nobody mentions how they do over time. Like I said, never again for me.

 

i knew that our rear end was very similar to the jk d44 but never really looked into it more.

my son's wrangler has a d44 in it but its not the jk one.

 

i knew that our rear end was very similar to the jk d44 but never really looked into it more.

my son's wrangler has a d44 in it but its not the jk one.

Yeah, somewhere around 10 years ago or so when guys were wanting to regear these Titans and nobody seemed to be making the gears, someone discovered that it was possible to use the Jeep gears with a spacer. That seems to be when the posts show up. Now a lot of companies, including some very reputable companies, sell the kits or will sell the spacer separately to allow the Jeep ring gear to be mounted in the Nissans. At the time I believed that was just my only option. Yukon makes a full line of Nissan gear sets that don't require a spacer. I guess that's why they're considered to be the best in the business.

 

The concept might even last if the spacer & gear was somehow attached together. Don't know if I'd weld on a ring gear, so pinning the two together might be a solution. The setup definitely needs longer bolts also. All things that were running through my head a year and a half ago when putting the thing together, and I should have listened. But it's all back together now and seems fine. In the break in period right now. No clunks, no noises, so that's a good sign. Gotta get some miles on these things so I can change the fluid & pull my trailer to the mountains in a couple weeks.

 

I wish I would have thought to take some pics of the inside before I took it all apart, but here's a couple showing the carnage.

 

wow!! it gouged the heck out of the inside of the housing

 

Yep. All ten bolts had walked out & the ring gear was just wallering back & forth until one of the bolts finally came out & wedged between the housing and the carrier. That locked up the axle si the truck wouldn't roll. I had just come off the freeway and into my neighborhood coming home from work. About 200 feet from my driveway. I had to take it apart in the street just to get it to roll. I can't believe I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary.

 

Wow. That could have been really bad

 

My 07 has 200k original miles I’m the original owner and couldn’t be happier with the gears, and rear end performance, it’s an on the road daily and will spank about anything around. Gearing has always been nice, but I haven’t needed lower, I’m assuming folks are doing this for a lower end gain vs the taller gears?

 

I changed my gears to 4.10's after I put 35's on. I got a lot of my 'punch' back in the low end. Also makes towing my trailer easier on the truck.