21:42 Oct 26, 2011 

Je possède un xtrail vdi 2,2 de juin 2003.
Je m'apprêtais à passer au modèle 2011 lorsque J'AI CASSÉ LE PONT ARRIÈRE.
Le pont est actuellement démonté et je suis à la recherche soit d'un pont d'occase, soit des PIGNONS (15 x 37). [ ... ]
Par ailleurs, mon pont est démonté, j'ai LES PIGNONS DEVANT MOI ET SEUL LE 15 DENTS EST ABIMÉ. Le 37 ça va.
http://forum.nissanxtrail.xooit.fr/t702-casse-pont-arriere.h...

IOW, when this poor soul says j'ai cassé le pont arrière he has stripped teeth on the 15-tooth gearwheel in his differential, not busted the axle.

www.cumminsdiesel.fr/rallye.../Etape 2.pdf - Translate this page
De leur côté, Pierre Lachaume et Jean Brucy ont également CASSÉ LE PONT avant, puis le pont arrière. Ils ont dû rejoindre le bivouac par la route sans franchir la ...
Were Pierre and Jean to have actually broken the front axle, I doubt they would have been able to drive any further to subsequently break the rear axle. What undoubtedly happened is that they munted the front diff, then drove on in two-wheel drive until no-wheel drive occurred.

21:30 Oct 26, 2011 

Yes, in theory this would be the différentiel in French, but in everyday speech (and more) pont (the whole shebang) is used for the "middle bit" that distributes power to the two wheels. Casser le pont is a relatively common occurrence that involves not breaking the axle but stripping the gears or otherwise disabling some part of the transmission within the rear-axle assembly, most commonly the diff.

18:36 Oct 26, 2011 

I thought of axles after having posted the question so it's great that you've just confirmed this!
I really appreciate your help