I took my 97 4Runner to a mechanic to look it over. They said i would likely need new axle seals on the back end.

THis mechanic told me they didnt want to tackle it as it was a difficult task. So I took it to the Toyota Dealership. They said they would do it but aggreed it was difficult.

Now i have looked through my Haynes manual, the FSM, and a couple Posts on 4runner forums, and I just don't see what the issue is? it looks pretty straight forward to me. even enough that i would probably try tacklin it my self.

looks like the only special tool i would need is a seal puller.

Am i missing something or have i been mislead to think this is a pain to do?

Ks

Nope, not that hard to do. Funny a mechanic would say that, not surprised the dealership would tell you it is difficult as they want your business. It can be messy though. While a proper seal puller is ideal, it is not necessary. I think a seal driver would be more useful, but I just used a piece of PVC I had laying around to get the new seal in there. All the info you need is right here.

Rear Axle Seals: The Ultimate Information and Replacement Thread (3rd gen)

Good luck and if you have any more questions just ask or search around.

Oh, I want to add that if your rear brake shoes are covered in gear oil, you'll want to change those bad boys out too. Another straight forward (easy) task. Shoes are approximatley $110 from the dealership, probably cheaper at your FLAPS.

After reading through the post, Looks like the seal replacem is quite easy....however it would probably also include new bearings.

Ive got 208K on this thing and i dont know that i want to go dumping money into a "new bearings install". I guess I can always just replace the seals and hope for the best.

Ks

haha sounds like some pretty incompetent mechanics, the seals are fairly easy. also, its very uncommon for both seals to go out at once, i'm at 227k and just replaced the left side for the first time, double checked the passenger side and no sign of needed replacement

Did you bother with replacing the bearings?

After further thought i decided to slide under real quick and take a look. this is what i found:

Rear Drivers:


Rear Passenger:



So it looks to me like the only issue I have is on the passenger side, not the drivers side as it looks pretty clean.


On a separate note, I noticed on the passenger side front wheel there was some oil splatter too. What would that be from? does the front have axle seals too? I have a leaky valve cover gasket, but i cant imagine it is making its way all the way to the tire...


Front Passenger:

Did you recently have your tires rotated? Looks like your front tire used to be your rear tire.

heh....thats pretty funny. Didnt even think about that.

Would make sense considering the passenger side rear wheel/tire currently has no oil on it.

Bought this a week ago so the wheels could very well have been rotated in the very near past.

Ks

So whats the verdict on the bearings? Can i put in a new seal and not worry about the bearings?

KS

If you are going to do it yourself, you could try replacing just the seals and see what happens. If you are going to pay someone, you may just pay the extra couple hundred to have them do it all (seals and bearings) that way it's done. Hopefully you would never have to worry about it again after that. If you are going to do it yourself make sure your breather is clear or replace it. A lot of people think if not for the breather, these only go bad because the bearings are bad. Once it leaks past the seal there's a good chance diff fluid gets into the bearing and it will fail soon after anyway.

Make sure you just check the bearings. when you take the tire and drum off, grab the lugs and try and giggle them, there should be ZERO play in them. If there is any play and at then you need to get them replaced or its just gonna leak some more. I got mine done for $400 for the passenger side. It is very common for the passenger side to go before the driver, right turns are usually tighter in daily driving which means more stress on them.

I think i saw somewhere that to check the bearings with the axle out, just try to move the plate that is left on when you pull the axle out (not sure the name....backer plate?). Does that sound about right.

That is an interesting thought that had never crossed my mind. Passenger side would tend to have more stress due to the harder right turns vs left turns. hmmm.

thanks
Ks

I had the head mechanic from toyota check mine out, he left the axle in and showed me how to check it. leave everything together, pull the tire and drum. then just grab the lugs. if they jiggle you got problems haha.

Here is the deal with the bearings. If you have gear oil leaking into the brakes then you should replace the bearings. The gear oil is flushing out the bearing grease and gear oil is not sufficient lubrication. The more gear oil leaking the more important it is to replace those bearings. Also think about it, at 200k, isn't it time to replace them anyway?

You will have to use a press to R&R the ABS rings and bearings, or take the axle to an auto parts shop.

What’s up man? So I read your post and mostly all off the solutions you got, so here are my thoughts.
I had this same problem, but only in my driver’s side rear. It was an ongoing problem for some time (6months) in the beginning I thought it was my seal, so I replaced that (pretty easy and I did not have any specialty tools), then it began to leak after a few weeks, (breather valve was kinna clogged, Cleared it) and it still leaked. Replaced the seal again because I did a crappy job by not using the using the right tools. (I warped the seal) it leaked after I took it on some light off-roading. Finally I took it to the stealership and they told me my bearing is bad. They gave me a $600 quote and I laughed @ them.

How to check bearings? Once you have taken the break drum off and disconnect the break line and shaft from the shaft housing (4 blots behind the backing plate) u can check the bearings by putting the wheel component parallel to the ground. With your left hand grab the top of wheel component (by where the wheel break cylinder is located) and with your right hand on the shaft (should also be parallel to the ground as well) try to move it up and down or 12 - 6. There should be little to no play. Hope this helps, because checking by "grabbing the lugs and try and giggle them" is not a good way to be sure.

I ended up buying the bearing ($80) a new oil seal $7 (that’s inside the bearing housing) a snap ring $2.99 and I took it to my local machine shop which they charged me $50 for 5hr of labor to press the old one out and press the new one in)
In total it was all less than $200 and it’s been almost 3 months with no leak + I feel better that I saved tons of money working on my own problems with help from this site.

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