In July I was hit dead on in the rear driver’s side tire (other car’s front end was gone). I was going approximately 40mph and the other car turned into me going, about 10mph. I spun 90 degrees and hit the side curb with the passenger rear tire. Two months later the rear differential has failed. Could there be other unforseen damage to the drive-train?
Yes. Absolutely. Contact Insurance.
CSA
P.S. What model year is this Nissan Frontier and what is the approximate number of miles on it?
Has it been torn-down for an estimate or already repaired? What caused it to “fail” according to the mechanic?
Contact your insurance co. they should attach it to your original claim.
Your differential failure is almost surely related to the collision.
As was already said, contact your insurance company.
Model is a V6 SE (King Cab) 4x4, 2006; 66K miles. It was looked at by Nissan and is currently being repaired–over $3K to fix. Mechanic had no “reason” and when I explained to them about the accident, they said it “was possible” failure was from that hit–turned out the insurance company went to the repair shop (where it has been sitting) and finally concurred that it was part of the accident. So I’m safe on that end. Thanks for you feedback. Looking forward to more info from you.
A friends van was near totaled after a truck making too wide a turn pushed the rear end up onto a boulder. 2 months later a trans rebuild and a trans that never stopped leaking fluid again. Not a coincedinq.
Rereading, I Think I Now Understand Your Question Better. You Already Knew The Differential Failure Was Accident Related, But You’re Concerned That Other Consequential Drive-Train Damage Can Surface.
I think the differential was probably the extent of it. Did they by chance include a 4-wheel alignment in the repair originally or subsequently? My concern would be with the alignment and relationship of the differential and drive shaft.
Does it drive “as good as new”?
CSA
It’s more than likely that the accident was behind the differential failure but I have a question.
If the tire hit hard enough to damage a differential then what about other damage?
Was the rear wheel replaced?
If the wheel hit hard enough to damage a differential then I would wager money (and I’m not a gambling man at all) that some components n the rear suspension have been damaged although this may not even be visible to the naked eye.
Though I completely agree, a good body shop is well capable of putting things right. Having done lots of off road, and damaged my share of suspension components with excellent repair results, I would verbally make my concerns known to the repair shop.
Yes, you hit the nail on the head. Right after the accident it drove fine. No issues. New tires were also put on about 2 weeks after the accident due to wear (not the accident) and a full alignment completed. Drove great–then, two months later the horrible noise that could have been mistaken for a bad tire.
I pick up my truck this week sometime but overall, it drove great!
Scary!