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My ’06 Nismo just turned 100k miles with symptoms of clutch slippage. Most of my driving was on-road with not much weight in the bed. Occasionally, I would haul very heavy loads. But in all, 100k is what my type of driving gave me. Obviously, a new clutch was needed and this is the subject of this post.
All repairs are the sum of parts and labor. Replacing the clutch on my Frontier was a very large undertaking. Most of the labor was in R&R of exhaust and drivetrain components just to get to the clutch. The dealer estimate was 15 hours. Most repair shops have 9.5 hours. The reality is somewhere in between. The best shops are ones that perform transmission repairs. They are equipped with the tools and experience to do the job right. Ordinary repair shops that may do one clutch a year will charge more and may encounter delays as they struggle with the enormity of the job. I paid $950 (New England prices) for the labor.
Some enthusiasts on this Board love to mod their Frontier for better performance. I am one of the silent minority that prefers to merely extend the stellar reliability of their truck. Consequently, I replaced my clutch with a vendor standard kit. Not too exciting but my goal was reliability. The kit cost me $410 which is high. I think the repair shop marked up this price in favor of a low labor quote.
The biggest challenge a clutch-changer will encounter is what to do with the dual mass flywheel. Ideally, the flywheel should be ground to present a fresh surface to the new clutch disk. But the manufacturer says DMFs cannot be resurfaced. On the other hand urban legend has anecdotes of successful DMF resurfacings. My dealer said they had good luck with resurfacing DMFs. Resurfacing would have cost me $100, but the outcome is not guaranteed.
If money is dear, then the resurfacing route is the way to go. But my thoughts were on the huge labor cost element of the repair. If the resurfacing failed, the truck repair would have to wait until a new DMF was delivered. Suppose the re-surfaced flywheel developed issues after install? A DMF is comprised of two disks connected by annular springs located in a cavity between the disks. Every iota of engine torque passes through these springs. Used DMFs have been known to fail. More R&R.
I elected to buy a new DMF from Rock Auto for $243 delivered and made it available at the start of the repair. I paid $143 to avoid a potential headache. I also learned that Rock Auto is an awesome vendor. They delivered a 20 lb. flywheel to me in 3 days in the midst of Christmas season at less than half the price of a Nissan OEM DMF. Rock Auto’s DMF is a Luk and was bolt on perfect.
In sum, if you must change out the clutch, buy a Luk DMF from Rock Auto and seek out a transmission shop for the arduous labor. My cost was $1,603 plus tax.
All repairs are the sum of parts and labor. Replacing the clutch on my Frontier was a very large undertaking. Most of the labor was in R&R of exhaust and drivetrain components just to get to the clutch. The dealer estimate was 15 hours. Most repair shops have 9.5 hours. The reality is somewhere in between. The best shops are ones that perform transmission repairs. They are equipped with the tools and experience to do the job right. Ordinary repair shops that may do one clutch a year will charge more and may encounter delays as they struggle with the enormity of the job. I paid $950 (New England prices) for the labor.
Some enthusiasts on this Board love to mod their Frontier for better performance. I am one of the silent minority that prefers to merely extend the stellar reliability of their truck. Consequently, I replaced my clutch with a vendor standard kit. Not too exciting but my goal was reliability. The kit cost me $410 which is high. I think the repair shop marked up this price in favor of a low labor quote.
The biggest challenge a clutch-changer will encounter is what to do with the dual mass flywheel. Ideally, the flywheel should be ground to present a fresh surface to the new clutch disk. But the manufacturer says DMFs cannot be resurfaced. On the other hand urban legend has anecdotes of successful DMF resurfacings. My dealer said they had good luck with resurfacing DMFs. Resurfacing would have cost me $100, but the outcome is not guaranteed.
If money is dear, then the resurfacing route is the way to go. But my thoughts were on the huge labor cost element of the repair. If the resurfacing failed, the truck repair would have to wait until a new DMF was delivered. Suppose the re-surfaced flywheel developed issues after install? A DMF is comprised of two disks connected by annular springs located in a cavity between the disks. Every iota of engine torque passes through these springs. Used DMFs have been known to fail. More R&R.
I elected to buy a new DMF from Rock Auto for $243 delivered and made it available at the start of the repair. I paid $143 to avoid a potential headache. I also learned that Rock Auto is an awesome vendor. They delivered a 20 lb. flywheel to me in 3 days in the midst of Christmas season at less than half the price of a Nissan OEM DMF. Rock Auto’s DMF is a Luk and was bolt on perfect.
In sum, if you must change out the clutch, buy a Luk DMF from Rock Auto and seek out a transmission shop for the arduous labor. My cost was $1,603 plus tax.
