Bent chassis on d40

It would be nice of them to let us know this before we buy there products

Apparently if you modify in any way the weight does not matter and nissan or the airbag people will not confirm anything in writing as to how this could occur. funny how some people react after they have your hard earned cash in there pockets

I can only hope but I don't know if it would help

Just check your nissan warranty, to see if it is covered in the do-s
and donts, they always print what they will cover and what they wont cover, maybe you might get them by the short and curlies.

Cheers
Daza

Thanks DAZA
I'm actually sitting down with my solicitor early next week to sort this out as I'm sick of big company's trying to pull the wool over our eyes as I'm sure this is not a 1 off. AS for the warranty book I can not see anything about not being able to fit better suspension

It bent just behind the cab basically on the front tray mounts on both sides it is being straighten and strengthend over the next week or so and I think they are plug welding some stronger brackets on the chassis

It is not really anything to do with air bags I reckon (other than a reason to knock back warranty).
If anything I would expect airbags to actually spread the load over three points rather than at either end of the spring, but if it bottomed out in a big way while going fast this could put a fair amount of load directly above the axle.

Did you have it loaded up with camping gear or work gear.
And do you think it was overloaded?

If you genuinely feel your actions did not contribute to this, and wanted to pursue warranty, it might be worth getting an engineer to give a report on what effect the airbags or any other accessories might or might not have had.

Keep in mind they may also have a lot of testing and engineering to backup what ever they say, and probly know the week points and what it takes to do this.

If you did a search on here I am sure I have read other reports.

Ric,
I'm no engineer, but I expect the reason these dual cabs bend is that the rear axle acts as a fulcrum, with almost all the load behind the rear wheels. This is the Navara from side on:


So the load in the ute is mostly behind the axle and if towing, the weight on the ball is a long long way back as well.
To stiffen the rear suspension with an airbag, must increase the likelihood of it bending forward of the rear axle. These airbags can be very stiff and support a lot of weight. Airbags for my vehicle are able to support an additional 2200kg. Secondly, when you fit the airbags, you replace a rubber bump stop with some solid steel AND reduce the upward travel of the axle by over 70mm. So the likelihood of bottoming out at low pressures is considerable, and steel is not flexible.

In my (inexpert) opinion, the finger can be pointed in two directions:
The vehicle manufacturer should quote a lower payload for the dualcabs and secondly, the airbag manufacturers should warn prospective purchasers about the risk of a bent chassis with dualcabs.

Cheers
Phil

The chassis at the point they bend is a fair bit smaller than the hilux (I compared a mates nissan and my lux)
I would think nissan have just stuffed up

At no time was the ute overloaded or driven like a mad man as I had my 2 young children and mother in-law in the back seat still in 2wd following a Subaru outback as for the bump stop I should think you would have more travel before the air bag bottomed out (sorry forgot to mention I have OME 2inch + calmini 5inch lift with longer custom airbags ) So a lot of travel before hitting bottom

Stu-k,
The previous model Hilux bends at the same spot too. As does the previous model Rodeo.

Reidy,
I'm glad you're finally remembering to tell us some relevant detail:
You modify this many parts from a Calmini $3200 5 inch lift kit:

And fit the heavier OME springs and the custom airbags
and you're blaming your bent chassis on Nissan and the airbags??????

What do Superior Engineering have to say?

I pictured an inocent looking navara like the one you posted above, but with all that it is going to look a lot different

Sorry I didn't post that pic above of the nav and yes I have a few mods but Nissan's only problem is with the air bags (if to much air not enough flex to little air bump stop to close ) the calmini lift is not a prob (fully engineered) because at the end of the day I have not altered the chassis in any way with the lift or heavy duty springs fitted only a bit higher so yes I still blame them. If I can work out how to place a pic on here you might get a better understanding