I have read quite a few of the posts on leaking seals and replacing Axel bearings.

I was interested in hearing from people who only replaced the seals. Have you had to go back in and replace the bearings and seals later? How many miles were on the bearings when they failed and how many miles after the seals failed that the bearings had to be replaced.

I am really not interested in replacing both bearings and spending 300 bucks(doing it myself) to do axle bearing replacement if I don't really need to.

Thank you!

I replaced the bearings.

You can always just do the seal, it'd be only about 10 bucks for the whole deal and a bit of work. However, just be prepared to do the job again if it is indeed the bearings causing the problem. You're not going to hurt anything by leaving the bearings on there.

Always replace if the gear oil has diluted the grease in the sealed bearing.

If it's sealed, why would the grease leak out, and why would the gear oil leak in?

This is correct. Don't wait a long time or it will run gear oil through the bearing, then its toast.

Its not supposed to have gear oil between the seal and the bearing. Once the seal goes, it gets gear oil through the bearing.

I took apart the bearing on the side of my axle which had a failed seal and compared it to the bearing on the non-failed side. I can confirm 100% that the gear oil will wash out the bearing grease over time.

If you really want to be cheap, you could technically just make sure the play in the bearing isn't excessive, then pop open the rubber bearing seal and pack the cavity 1/3 full with a suitable grease. However, if there is bearing play, simply replacing the seal would only be a short term fix because over time the play will cause the seal to fail prematurely.

The bearings themselves are about 30 a piece if you take the original bearing pn to a bearing supply. Not sure how saving $60 is worth the hassle to have to take it all apart again. Unless your shop rate is $5/hr

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The job of taking the axle out is pretty easy and straightforward. Even more if you took it before and broke all the rust. The job of changing the bearing... that IS an hassle. So you are not just saving 60$ by doing only the seal, you are saving either a trip to a machine shop, or building yourself a special tool (or buy it for $$$) and insuring you have a press, so also a lot of labor time.

I had 1 axle leaking last year, leaked quite a lot, and put lot of mile on the truck since I changed the seal only, even did a road trip montreal-miami-montreal.

I didn't change the bearing, and everything is still fine. Mind, the bearing had no play and no noise when I verified it. Verified it again not so long ago, still no play.

Since the job of taking the axle out and changing the seal is easy, do not require special tool, and is cheap, if the bearing has no play, I would change the seal and then change the bearing when it fails in the hopefully distant future. But it's all logic, if your bearings are still original for example, they might already have been on the verge of failing and you could decide to change them at the same time as regular maintenance. Mine were not original.

If you are putting new seals in, why not spend that extra $ to replace those as well. If the seals went bad, no telling on what kind of dirt and such has been in those and everything will be apart anyways. Preventative maintenance will make your Yota happy!

You obviously have no idea... no dirt, and no, everything won't be appart already.

The seal failure OP is talking about does not create dirt entrance into the system. It's an internal seal.

Also, read my post above, it's not only 60$ involved for most people. It's either a trip to a machine shop or building/buying a special tool that you have to use with a press.

I know some people are nazis for doing the job properly, myself included (which is to replace the bearing entirely). However, I do understand the concern that to replace the bearing is a PITA especially considering that you need the special tool and if you take it to a machine shop you risk them nicking the axle when they cut off the retainer.

Replacing only the seal is cheap and easy. If the bearing doesn't have any play, IMO it is completely acceptable to just re-grease the bearings insitu by popping off the grease seal. As long as they have grease and there's no dirt, bearings last a very long time.

However, one IMPORTANT fact being overlooked here is that the new OEM seal design has the sealing lip recessed inboard. Flipping the retainer is not necessary, but you should move the retainer 1-2mm further inboard or else it will leak again. You'll see if you do the grease test. It's pressed on the axle pretty tight so I'm not sure how you could nudge it over without a press (maybe very gently with a hammer + striking tool?).

@nobb
Good info here. I did not flip the retainer, i went 3mm in from polished edge.

I got my axles nicked when i went to the machine shop.

So stressful, but i drive 1-2k miles a week for work and my rear bearing was bad but did not notice any leaking until i pulled the tire, zero sign of leakage on the backside of the tire.

There is a tool for sale right now on this forum to press everything apart. If only i could have bought it, used it, sold it. I wouldnt be afraid to wheel with my heat riser ds axle.

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Then I must be thinking of the wrong seal. I come from the world of Jeeps, where a rear axle seal is right at the bearing. Must be different on the Toyota Axles...

Just to clarify: The bearing seal does one thing... It keeps the grease in. It cannot stop liquids. If you could somehow keep the bearing filled with gear oil, it'd probably do a fine job of lubing the bearing. But that's not going to happen.