Front differential snapped. Need advice please
 

So I was driving my car like normal and hit a bump. I've hit bumps bigger than this one before and not as fast. After I hit the bump I noticed a weird whining noise when accelerating. Luckily I live pretty close to home where it happened.

I made it home and decided to lift the car up and not drive it or anything. I noticed fluid leaking from near the driveshaft. When I looked, the transfer case that connects to the drive shaft snapped. I have no idea what to do anymore and was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice. Does the transmission have to be dropped in order to take off the transfer case? I have a 2010 g37x coupe.

Pictures below.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...04a8d22d58.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...45131ba7d1.jpg

That's not something you see every day. I'd say if you have a warranty of any kind, make a claim. If not, depending on cost of repairs, it might be worthwhile to make a claim through the insurance company. Would probably fall under your collision coverage. Another thought might be to make a claim through the city where you hit the bump/pothole.

Go back there in the day time and take pics before they fill it up (the pothole that is).

​​​​​​thanks for the advice, that should never snap like that! Would my car become salvage after I make that claim?
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I wouldn't think so. A mechanical part broke, not the unibody chassis frame. I'm not familiar with awd (mine is rwd). Not sure if the car is driveable at this point (or if it should be driven). The recommendation might be to forward these pics to some local body shops to get their take on it. Mention this happened after hitting a bump.

Was this bump a pothole or something else?

I don't know what your insurance status/driving record is. This may count against you. That's why I say go back tomorrow and take pics. You may have a claim against the city.

Ive got a clean record and it was more of a big dip, gets steep and high really quick so like a deep pothole. I've hit bumps before and they never snapped my transfer case like this. It must have weakened over time or something. I'm all out of warranty on my car, should I still give Infiniti a call?

My car is AWD, I have it at home on Jack's and do not plan on driving it anywhere until it's fixed. I might even try to change the transfer case myself but I'm unsure if I need to remove the whole transmission or not. Thanks again for the advice.

I believe it's the tail of the transmission. But it is the front drive shaft. Is that the front differential then? From the photos I looked online, it seems to be the transfer case.

You may be right about it being the front differential. The oil that came out seemed very close to gear oil used in the differential.

Looks like the transfer case. The front differential is next to the engine oil pan, and has two CV axles coming out of it to drive the front wheels. The transfer case has a single, short prop shaft coming out of it, which transmits torque to the front differential.

Thats what I was thinking. The fluid that came out that smelled like ATF but it was dark and thick like gear oil..

Will I have to drop th whole transmission in order to remove the transfer case?

According to 2012 Sedan FSM, the transmission does NOT have to be removed.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...23f51c4457.jpg

I've got the 2010 g37x coupe hopefully it's the same idea! Otherwise I can try and change it out myself.

I'm still trying to figure out whether it's the transfer case or the front differential.

The front differential sends torque to the front wheels via CV axles.

The transfer case sits behind the transmission, with a stubby propeller shaft that sends torque to the front differential. The main propeller shaft that transmits torque to the rear diff passes through the transfer case.

So it has to be the transfer case. I'll take more pictures.

Ill take some pictures right now or even a video.