At 875 miles (three weeks) the front suspension collapsed on my 2001 Xterra SE. I was driving on a paved country road at about 40mph when the front suspension made a loud bang while going through a slight dip in the road. The whole front of the truck dropped about four to six inches. Leaning a bit more on the left side. I drove it immediately to the dealership where they referred to it as a fluke and said a mecahnic would look at it Monday.

I'm happy that I haven't seen other references to this on the web, but very unhappy with the fact mine broke. Could your folks describe the front suspension to me and what possibly broke. I need to be educated when talking with the dealership about this.

Obviously I'd like to hear of other similar failures. As well as suggestions as to the what to expect from the dealership.

BTW: the dealer gave a old cavalier to drive for my business while they get their act together on the Xterra. That is a crappy thing to do to a new customer.

Boy what if this had happened at 70 on the highway!

Thanks for you help and comments,

Joe

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Post some pictures of the front end.

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Regards,
Ian

That Sucks! If your truck droped 5 inches and was still drivable I am thinking that it was a torsion bar that broke or maybe one or more of the bolts on the front t-bar mount If one of the control arm bolts broke I don't think it would be as drivable? A torsion bar acts like a spring they are used instead of leaf/coil springs.

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Kevin
00' Super Black SE 5 speed
31" BFG M/T's, ARB, Rancho RSX's
superblackxterra.tripod.com

You must have been the 1 out of 100,000 to do that! That is crazy and never heard of a vehicle so new do that...the a person at the assembly plant most have had a rough hangover and assembled the suspension wrong. Sorry about that and the crapping rental car....I found out that dealers(with exceptions) really suck and maybe they could sell more Xterra's if they were more knowledgable and caring about customers.

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Join the Heartland Xterra Owners Club!
www.hxoc.net

Wow, thanks for the feedback. Service manager said first time he has ever seen this: the spline on the left torsion bar broke in the rear.

Has no explanation as to why this broke other than factory defect. After reading all the posts here and at other site its appears I still made the right decision with this vehicle. I mean people do and can take these off-road: right?

As for the cavalier--yes I am happy they had a car for me to drive. Oh well, I guess I feel like I should have been treated better.

Will go look at the damage in an hour and I'll let you know how it looks.

Any positive affirmations as to my decision to buy the Xterra will greatly appreciated. I bought it to supplement my off-road touring on my '89 BMW R100GS cycle. I only hope I can flog it through the mountains as well that bike.

Joe


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Observered the failure. Splines on the left torsion bar only entered about 1/4 inch--no way that could have held up. Service tech says all measured to spec. New parts being sent overnight. Will see if all lines up correctly tomorrow. Certainley appears it came from the factory this way.

Joe

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If you take a good look around this site you will see that many of us take our X's off road. Some of the guys are real hardcore about it too.


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Kevin
00' Super Black SE 5 speed
31" BFG M/T's, ARB, Rancho RSX's
superblackxterra.tripod.com