Is it possible to have a bend diff housing

[jay see]

OK. I've done almost 8,000 km in my GU since I bought it and I've almost chewed out one of the tires. At the time it required new tires, shocks and some bushes, and were replaced. It looked pretty original under there, with factory springs and shocks which were no good. It has always pulled to the left. After Speaking to a few different people within the industry both 4wd and tyre places, it has been brought to my attention that the diff housing may be bend only by a degree or two. This could caused by the old saggy suspension and the bump stops being pounded consistently over descent bumps, even if it hasn't seen a lot of off road use and the extra weight of a bull bar and winch won't help.
As anyone else heard this before and what are some of the fixes if any.
Probably won't be back on proper till tomorrow as off the bed now and work tonight.
Look forward to reading your replys.

Cheers

[taslucas]

Which tyre chewed out? And what brand are they?
I find it hard to believe that the vehicle would have been driven hard enough to hit the bump stops long enough to bend the diff housing. Especially if it only has minor offroad use.
One massive jump may do it perhaps.
How many ks on the vehicle?

[BigRAWesty]

Miss use can bend diffs.. And if tyre joints say it's out then yea.. It's bent.
Solution, new diff..

[MudRunnerTD]

Assuming you have had a front end alignment what were the figure mate, how much toe in?

Have the front end rechecked and the alignment should be able to pickup a. Bent diff too.

Yes they bend. Yes it could be your problem. Plenty of other causes though.

[Bulbous]

Definitely. they bend, but I had to jump mine pretty hard to do it. I replaced it nearly 2 years ago, and it's fine now.
Often if the diff housing is bent then you will have a leak from the left side knuckle as the bent housing just disturbs the axle seal enough to let the oil out of the diff.

[happygu]

Yes they can bend, but as others have said, you have to hit something very, very hard.

Is it the outside edge of the passenger front by any chance?

If it is the inside edges of the tyres, then I would definitely say that the housing is bent, tyres underinflated, or your wheel bearings are shot....

If it is the outside edges, then there can be other factors....

[kevin07]

no castor correction my left near side pulls left but its under 2 degrees so not scrubbing when I do a lift ill get it all aligned.

[93patrol]

Or a bent steering arm will do that as well

[macca]

There is a critter to help with this but is preventative.

If after taking the diff out and it was possible to straighten it, fitting one of these might help the problem in the future.

[cos]

Adding a few words to post no.5 ( wich is my opinion too ) - a small corection is posible using offset kingpin .

[jay see]

Sorry for the delay guys. Just got off three 12 hour nights.

[jay see]

Which tyre chewed out? And what brand are they?
I find it hard to believe that the vehicle would have been driven hard enough to hit the bump stops long enough to bend the diff housing. Especially if it only has minor offroad use.
One massive jump may do it perhaps.
How many ks on the vehicle?

Front passenger tyre
Cheapy brand
240,000. But have not 100% sure if genuine.

[jay see]

Miss use can bend diffs.. And if tyre joints say it's out then yea.. It's bent.
Solution, new diff..

Don't think you can buy a new one.

[jay see]

Assuming you have had a front end alignment what were the figure mate, how much toe in?

Have the front end rechecked and the alignment should be able to pickup a. Bent diff too.

Yes they bend. Yes it could be your problem. Plenty of other causes though.

Did get it aligned when tyres got fitted, but cant find the paperwork. will have to take it to another place, guys didn't seem to know what they were doing.

[jay see]

Definitely. they bend, but I had to jump mine pretty hard to do it. I replaced it nearly 2 years ago, and it's fine now.
Often if the diff housing is bent then you will have a leak from the left side knuckle as the bent housing just disturbs the axle seal enough to let the oil out of the diff.

What did you replace it with, 2nd hand one?
I know about the seals and I'm pretty sure that they're not leaking, but will go out later to confirm.

[jay see]

Is it the outside edge of the passenger front by any chance?

Yes it is.

[jay see]

when I do a lift ill get it all aligned.

I'm thinking the same hopefully in a month or two. Until then might just have to rotate.

[jay see]

Or a bent steering arm will do that as well

I hope not.

[jay see]

There is a critter to help with this but is preventative.

If after taking the diff out and it was possible to straighten it, fitting one of these might help the problem in the future.

I hope not again.

[jay see]

Adding a few words to post no.5 ( wich is my opinion too ) - a small corection is posible using offset kingpin .

Is this done with a wheel alignment?

[Bulbous]

What did you replace it with, 2nd hand one?
I know about the seals and I'm pretty sure that they're not leaking, but will go out later to confirm.

Replaced it with a new one. I just went down to Nissan parts and they had the tube in stock. Quoted me about 3000 AED after discount.
You should be able to get one in OZ, but may have to order it.
They keep them in stock here cos there's so many Patrols on the roads.

[Bulbous]

Incidentally, my tube was pretty badly bent. It had no noticeable effect on the tire wear.

[happygu]

Yes it is.

Jay,

Outside edge is very unlikely to be a bent diff housing, as they normally bend up due to a hard landing or big hit...... this will take out the inside edges ....

Patrols have a bad habit of taking off the passenger front outside edge of the tyre on lifted vehicles, mainly due to the changed geometry and cornering fast, going around round abouts and the like, with the added push from the excellent limited slip diff in the rear trying to push the vehicle out wide in the corners.

Solution is to live with it and slow it down by rotating tyres regularly, and or changing the front geometry so that it mimics the standard setup

Mic

[cos]

First to do is a alingnment where can see all angles , so you can compare left/right side .
A offset kingpin is a posibile way to corect a bent knuckle .

[jay see]

Thanks guys much appreciated.
Will do the alignment once it's lifted only going 2" as it's a daily. As it stands it's at standard height.
Makes sense as its got were on the outside, just maybe the diff is OK. He's hoping.

[Patrolling Paddy]

Start with the alignment.
The only adjustable part is the toe in/out so if any of the castor or camber is out left to right, then it is very possible it's bent.
Castor can be corrected with bushes if it is out but if it's different to the other side it would be best to have it straightened.
Camber can be corrected with kingpin offset but I would suggest you have it straightened, I've never been a fan of the offset kingpins.
The best way to straighten is to remove it from the car, engineering shop can straighten and brace it. I highly recommend bracing as once it has been bent and straightened they tend to bend again, after bracing they are very very unlikely to bend again.
I have had one straightened at a truck alignment shop before too as a quick fix, and cheaper than a full strip straighten and brace job.

Alignment will be the first step to identify what and where anything is bent if at all

[Kelvinator]

You could if very clever pull your diff straight by welding on bracing. You would need to be pretty experienced at pulling by welding. I've only seen it done at my old workshop, never done it myself. An old school boily would probly know how.

However, there's many a thing that could be causing it. An external factor can include how and where you drive. There are tonnes of roundabouts where I live and drive through every day and as such I get excessive wear on one tire on the outer edge. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it apart from take them slower and rotate tires all the time and flip them on the rim every second swap.

[Patrolling Paddy]

True, welds will pull it straight, depending on how much it's bent, but as you said it does take experience and given we could be talking less than a degree of 'bend' it is difficult to measure in a boily bay.
End of the day though, as long as it's straight at the end of whatever process is used.

[jay see]

The more I read about this the more I believe that the housing isn't bent.

Having said that, keep the ideas/replies coming. I'm sure that there's others that this information can help.

I've just swapped the LHF with the LHR until I get the springs and then it will be aligned.

[Parksy]

Are you running a RTC damper? For the short period I had mine fitted, my front left tyre wore quickly and unevenly.

[jay see]

Are you running a RTC damper? For the short period I had mine fitted, my front left tyre wore quickly and unevenly.

No. Just the original Nissan one.