Is this inner or outer axle seal? I'm confident that is not the wheel cylinder since there's no lack of fluid or brake performance. Both drums are the same temp.

I had new axles with new bearings built around Feb at NAPA.

I did final assembly including the inner axle seal along with the O-ring myself.

When I had an inner axle seal leak the entire drum would fill with gear fluid and brakes would suffer as well. Obvious fluid visible leaking from the bottom of the drum. That's not happening this time.

Oddly enough, the fluid is leaking out of the one missing lug nut hole in the wheel. Being that it is the first place it has to seep out of the weep hole on the hub.

Sorry guys, I forget every time I encounter an issue with these seals.

Checked out this but he obviously had a different issue.
Rear Axle Seals: The Ultimate Information and Replacement Thread (3rd gen)


Entire inner side is dry

Two things:

1.) Looks like leaking (maybe weeping) wheel cylinder to me. Axle generally presents itself on the back (inside) of the wheel and tire.

2.) Why the hell are you driving around with a missing wheel stud and lug nut. Not real safe, not real smart.

Wheel cylinders will on the inside of tire. They are bolts d to the backing plate which will leak down to the lower end of the drum and therefore leak on the inside over the tire. As for the missing lugnuts, not smart but they come in packs of 20 soooooooo. Crossed the etire country and tons of wheeling lIke this. Downpour just gave me 4 that he had and I still haven't put them on yet because I want to rotate my fronts to the rear. Hope I get a chance tomorrow.

Regarding the stud + nut, just go to autozone and buy singles.

On a rear 6-lug wheel with 5 other lugs present, you probably have a better chance of winning the lottery while getting struck by lightning and getting a bj from a supermodel at the same time, vs. something happening with that wheel.

Not a chance I'd take. Especially considering it looks like he has bigger tires too.

That's exactly what my 80 series rear wheels looked like when my axle seal failed. I could smell it though so it was pretty obvious it was gear oil and not brake fluid.

Correct, not a brake issue. I'm about to go get dirty!

Edit: Just called NAPA's machine shop to get some clarification on the seals. The inner one must be bad considering that fluid has passed it and passed the bearing. Hopefully the bearing isn't bad too. I'm using a Toyota seal this time.

The "outer" seal which i pressed into the bearing housing is purely a dust seal to keep stuff out, not in.