Its a good idea to at least change the breather, even if you dont do the hose extension. The OEM breather sucks, can rust out and fail.
Just using anecdotal evidence like yours, you are outnumbered. TRUE that submersion can be a trigger, you don't need to be driving through water to have an issue... and it might only take ONCE. Of all the things one can do, this is one that is on the easy scale.
Beg to differ. I may be outnumbered on this forum but majority of Frontier owners are not represented here. This is an enthusiast hangout and the members here are a fraction of the Frontier universe, and majority of that universe are driving around in multiple generations of Frontiers (and Titans, Armadas, Xterras, Pathfinders) without a worry about diff breathers. I am not aware of large numbers of diffs blowing up because of failure to relocate the breather either. It is actually very unlikely that you will have an issue even if you don't do it, most people don't.
Must be. I don't see Nissan carrying over dang near everything from the gen 2 chassis except for the breather. But then, again now that I think about it, this is exactly the kind of thing that they would do.
I was going to ask, why would I need a rear diff breather. If you are submerging that deep often enough, many more components need equal attention and concern.
Actually if one goes in water to say launch a boat or a deeper than normal road puddle, the breather height is kinda low compared to most stuff. The axle and brakes are the only other components that are really susceptible to water issues. Sure, you can go deeper, but it's been discussed, the drawing of cool water into the diff when it's warm/hot is a possible issue.
, but just wanted the diff to breathe better. I didn't care if I had a "snorkel" for the diff. But that's me.
Of course if you have water above your axle your going to have more problems to worry about then this. My idea is, regardless of where or how you drive, I’d rather be safe than sorry and not have to worry about replacing my rear axle seals sometime in the future because I didn’t do this mod earlier.
Or the seals
I say totally necessary. Counter-single data-point: my Gen2 Nismo made it 126K and 3 times it needed new seals. Never submerged, lots of dry dirt roads and also winters in CO. They went once well before 36k, then 80k then just after 100k after my extended warranty ran out. I sold it at 126k. Since my 2020 has the same rear axle I did the breather mod first thing based on my experience with my 2008.
yes
