The Nissan Path

Somewhere I've read that the Titan 4x4 and Armada come with lightweight aluminum driveshafts, just wondering if any have measured to see if either would fit the PF 4x4. As they probably don't fit have any looked into aftermarket aluminum driveshafts for the PF. Thanks.

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6" aluminum driveshaft on my 2wd V8.

Interesting. I never noticed that the 4WD has steel drive shafts and the 2WD has an aluminum one.

Great now the homeless recycling guy is gonna go after driveshafts, like catalytic converters werent the hot ticket already (pardon the pun)

MGJ

I've got aluminum on my '05 2WD, and have seen pictures of steel driveshafts, making me wonder if Nissan changed the design after '05. I never put it together that it is 2WD vs. 4WD. I wonder if the length from the transmission to rear differential is the same, if the aluminum and steel shafts are interchangable.

LittleStevie wrote:I wonder if the length from the transmission to rear differential is the same, if the aluminum and steel shafts are interchangable.

Doubtful..

Heck with the Aluminum ... www.acpt.com can build a Carbon Fiber drive shaft , from what the STI guys are saying , its the best mod out for those cars , gives a bunch more MPG and a BUNCH more power to the wheels .!....

Lol Shawn, I don't think we'll ever see car builders put those CF drive shafts in our PF daily ride as the drivers who abuse cars would be tearing them up every week and looking for warantee replacements, but they probably give better torque at the wheels and they are definitely lighter than stock steel.

I've never heard of them used much for offroading or for towing vehicles though. What's a good CF drive shaft pricing for these days and who's making the good ones?

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The 350Z utilizes a CF Shaft, and the Nismo Fronty utilzes it's 6 speed... not to sure weather that Shaft is steel or Aluminum though.
Not too sure you want your 'spensive DS being the POF like that.

Thanks, the Mitsu Montero has been using a carbon fiber main driveshaft for that offroad truck for about five years but it's a fiber reinforced plastic like the 350Z so the weight savings aren't great, about the same as aluminum.

As far as I can tell from other Frontier posters all of the 05+ 4x4's come with an aluminum driveshaft, but I haven't made it to dealership lot to have a look at that one and the Armada to check the length and see what other differences there might be.

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I just did a basic lift on a Frontier ... so ... I had the chance to measure the aluminum driveshaft in it ....

Basicly an '05 Frontier V6 4x4 4 door short bed ... center of u joint to center of u joint was 50 1/4 " ..... Ill have to measure the path. to see how close it is ...

33 1/4" is what I came up for a measurement on this PF center to center on on the U-Joints. I still haven't made it to the dealership to see if the piece that slips into the Frontier transmissions is aluminum as well. Sweet if we could all have aluminum and now I'm wondering why every other Nissan 4x4 truck comes an aluminum DS other than the PF 4x4.

If there are any machinists here, how hard would it be to take a longer Frontier aluminum driveshaft, cut it to PF size, reweld it, get it balanced and save another small additional amount in fuel economy.

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A good driveshaft shop should be able to do that for you pretty easly ..

Most driveline shops will not cut down a Al driveshaft and reweld to your application. When you need a Al shaft they will make a new one. This is beacuse you will weaken the shaft. Drive shafts come in diffrent core sizes to keep the shaft from vibrations from being to thin and flexing at higher rpm. Give them the size you need and they will find the correct size Al stock to make it out of. Me truley I had a Al on my ZR2 and after some time I swoped it out for a steel. Al dont do anything other than keep weight down.