2002 QX4 Front differential companion flange

[sshauna]

Hi there,
fairly new to NICO.club.

I have a 2002 Qx4 that has was diagnosed with a leak from the front differential pinion seal. Upon getting the seal to be replaced, mechanic informed me her couldn't replace the seal for fear it would still leak because the seal had worn itself into the yoke, or companion flange?

I am no mechanic but I was told I need to try to find this companion flange which is a discontinued part.

Question: is this a part that can be salvaged from a pathfinder or Qx4 from similar year? Kinda stuck and would like to attempt to fix this.

I have about 230,000 mi on my qx4 and of course every time I fix one thing, something else seems to go, but I freakin love my vehicle and would like to keep it running as long as possible.

Any suggestions or info appreciated!!!

[mdmellott]

QX4 and Pathfinder models have been using that flange assembly companion, part number 38210-21G15, since 1997 on the QX4 models and 1991 on the Pathfinders, up to 2004 on both. Nissan models 240SX ('91-'98), 300ZX ('91-'96), Frontier ('98-'04), Hard Body Pickup ('91-'94), and Xterra ('00-'04) also used this same part number. That gives you quite a few potential salvaged models to choose from if you can find any one of them in good condition. I have to assume your mechanic pulled the flange off the drive pinion from your QX4 and saw that the oil seal had worn a groove into the neck of this flange assembly, otherwise there would have been no way to know it was damaged. I hope you can find a decent used replacement.

[rgk]

There are lots of junkyard merchants on eBay - look for one selling your differential and contact them to see whether they would be willing to send you the flange.

[Mike W.]

Often repair sleeves are available and one can usually insert the seal just a hair further in or shallower.

[sshauna]

Thanks of for the info everyone. Where do I find these so called seal savers? My mechanic mentioned thats what I should look for instead. Any suggestions? Not sure what to search, repair sleeve?

[mdmellott]

Timken and SKF have many different sizes of these repair sleeves. Each sleeve is made to press fit onto shafts with a very specific diameter range. I don't know the specific size of the companion flange shaft. You will have to measure it precisely so that you can select the correct repair sleeve. The following are links to the Timken web page for their Redi-Sleeves, the SKF web page for their Speedi-Sleeve, and a YouTube video to show how it's done.
https://www.timken.com/products/timken- ... i-sleeves/
https://www.skf.com/us/search-results?s ... edi-Sleeve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XIjYuhxKsw

[sshauna]

RAD, thanks so much!