Here is the background thread if anyone's interested:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=543718

Here are the pics:









It's interesting because there are two holes on either side of the "high spot". I can't really figure out exactly how the holes happened. Any thoughts?

 

Do the parts inside the tranny still rotate properly? Will it shift into all the gears?

I've seen the cross-shaft in the differential fail in fatigue and punch through the housing in that exact place. The rubbing on the clutch in that case could have been caused by the broken housing rubbing on the clutch, which would not be the fault of the clutch at all. Those fracture surfaces on the housing look to indicate something punching outward into the bellhousing rather than the other way around.

Dave

 

That's not a clutch failure, though those ebay clutches do suck. That's a front differential failure.

 

Yeah, it will shift in all gears. I drove it into my shop before I dropped the tranny. Oh well, what can you do.

 

Question: What could have caused it? I wasn't driving it hard, and I just put Redline MT90 in with the clutch. Just age/it was time for it to go? I drove it hard in the past, but I hadn't had a chance since I was breaking in the clutch.

 

I'm with dave here, I didn't understand in your previous post how it could put a hole in the casing. I also doubt this is a clutch /pressure plate issue as you described in the last post. The pic confirms that

 

most likely scenario would be the roll pin that holds the cross shaft in place either wore though or came loose, allowing the shaft to slide out of the diff. there are other less likely scenarios but that's the one I'd put my money on.