Hopefully this is an easy enough diagnosis of maybe just needing to replace my clutch that has 116K miles on it (seems early for clutch to go, especially with no major hard wheeling on it, no?), but wanted to get some opinions.

Recently (just started 2 days ago) when I've been shifting gears it's making some odd grinding noises then stops shortly after the gear change. It's not the major gear crunch from a total mis-shift, but sort of a fainter "I'm kinda not fully in gear sorta slippage" sound, which I can also feel through the stick as well.

When downshifting, it takes a decent amount of time to go into gear (probably about 4 seconds vs. right away), and after the gear slippage noise for a few seconds (2-3) it all settles and then nothing until the next gear change.

Someone once told me that if it takes a while to shift gears there could be a syncros issue, which this truck has always been a bit slower on gear shifts - especially downshifts - so I'm not sure if this is just characteristic for Xterras or just an anomoly with mine.

Any thoughts/advice? Thanks in advance!

That's not normal, mine shifts pretty smooth with 102k miles. If its the clutch you should notice it slipping when accelerating. Never delt with bad syncros so I can't help you there.

Yeah, didn't think it was the clutch since I've only had one go on me before in a different vehicle and it certainly didn't feel/sound like this.

I'm finishing off working on the brakes tonight since I hit a bit of a hurdle there after replacing the wheel bearings, rotors, and everything. When I get it back on the ground and work in the brakes I'll do some more testing to see what specific scenarios replicate this tranny issue. I'm hoping it's not the synchro's since I understand that can be pretty expensive to repair and WAY beyond my skill level.

Oddly enough it isn't making the sound at the moment after getting it back on all four from a brake pad/rotor and wheel bearing job, but there is a bit of creeking when I push in the clutch pedal; sorta like something needs to be greased or something.

I have that same creaking on mine... but it seems to be most prominent in colder temps.

I'm definitely preplexed on this one. Some more consistent patterns are emerging, which is odd since the last few days everything had been running fine after not driving it.

There is a strange whining happening a bit more regularly and predominantly when I put the clutch in; mostly in first and second gear, which I would imagine is the pilot bearing going since it almost has a metal scrapping noise to it. The gear crunching/grinding seems to happen mostly when shifting up into fourth gear. There is also a more pronounced "hop" especially at higher speeds, sort of like something is out of balance.

Not sure if this hop sensation is slippage since it feels way different that the last time I had a clutch go, which the engine would rev way up while in gear and giving it gas at highway speed then re-engage.

Any thoughts on what I might be dealing with? It seems like it might be a clutch, but not sure. If it is a clutch, I was considering swapping to the Centerforce dual-friction clutch but not sure what sort of experiences/reviews others had with the set up.

Both of my xterra's make a slight grinding noise going into fifth gear. I think that's just the way they are. I've heard others say theirs do the same thing.

Could be throw out bearing or pilot bearing going bad.

Turn the cruise controll on and if it kicks out when it tries to speed up, the clutch is about wasted.

JWT makes a light weight flywheel and uses a 350Z clutch in a package deal that a lot of guys use as replacement.

Yeah, this definitely isn't normal since the truck has never done anything like this before even though it has always been a bit slower on gear changes. Maybe the tranny was flawed from the get go and just took a long time to present itself since I've never had anything like this happen. I actually thought that tranny issues really only happened to people with automatics,which is one of the reasons why I've stayed with manuals.

Both of the places I am considering taking it to (one of them did my timing belt, the other is a friend of a family member) suspect it is a bad tranny due to a synchro issue that's creating a domino effect, though one suggested they do a more thorough shake down to test it out since it could be the master cylinder. I figure between a certified used tranny, labor, clutch and everything I'm probably looking at like $2K. So much for saving the $1,000 from just doing my wheel bearings, pads and rotors myself. FML.

I'll check out the JWT/350Z setup. I think in the end if I do have to go as deep as replacing the tranny that I'll just go all in for the Centerforce clutch; trying to decide if I should get the Centerforce II or the Dual Friction.

I've never done any towing in my truck, but did just get a 6x9 utility trailer for yard/dump runs and ultimately I'm planning on doing a lot more wheeling now that I have a lot of stuff that kept me busy behind me, so I know that will put more wear on it. It would be good to see just how worn the clutch is so far with a moderate amount of wheeling and nearly an extra 1,000 lbs of gear on the truck since that would help determine if the 60% extra holding power over OEM with the CFII is sufficient, or if I should kick in a little bit more and get 90% extra holding power over OEM with the DF.

Anyone have any experience with the Centerforce set ups?

So here it is after taking it to AAMCO since I got things as far as just swapping in a certified tranny to just replacing the gear fluid from two other mechanics:

Pilot bearing/bushing was cooked and hanging down. It was preventing the truck from smoothly getting into first gear.

Synchros for 1st and 4th also WAY worn, which was another issue.

They said the OEM clutch was in great shape and probably could go for another 30K miles anyways based on how I've been driving it even with a few moderate outtings on it and nearly 800-1,000 extra pounds on the truck with the armor and recovery gear.

Short of the long I'm looking at a tranny rebuild for $2,300, which will have a 1 year warranty on parts and labor. A certified tranny would have had a decent amount of wear on it anyways with only 3-4 month warranty, and still between the cost of that and a clutch kit and labor I was still looking at roughly $1,900 so for $400 more it's rebuilt better than what Nissan built it (or whoever their supplier was for the trannys) and I get a full year's warranty out of it.

Could have been worse if gears and other things needed to be replaced, but still...FML!!!