Now it’s time to remove the inner rear axle seal. I’ve heard of various methods for doing this, from grabbing it with pliers and pulling it out, driving a screwdriver through it, etc. Most involve deforming the seal, and some risk of scratching up the inside of your axle housing. I found a tool at Harbor Freight. It was called simply a Seal Puller (Item No. 91352, Brand is Central Forge, UPC is 92363 91352). It was $9.99.

You place the small hook on the left side of the tool (in photo below) behind the seal and use a hammer to tap on either of the upright extensions. The tapping of the hammer pulls the seal out. “Safely removes seals with just a few hammer taps.” According to the packaging.



I wrapped the end of the tool in electrical tape to prevent metal on metal contact in case it slipped off the seal while I was hammering on it (which it did).



I removed the seal by placing the tool as you see in the photo below, with a shop cloth placed between the tool and the axle housing flange to prevent damage to the flange (cloth is not pictured). I gave the tool a few taps with the hammer until the seal started to deform, then rotated about 60 degrees and gave it a few more taps. I had to go all the way around the drivers side seal, but the passenger side seal came out on the second set of taps.



Here are a few shots of the axle housing with and without the inner axle seal…

Now you see it…



Now you don’t…



And this is the old seal side by side with the new one. Note the deformation of the old seal from pulling it out of the axle housing.





And a rare view down inside the tube of the axle housing, you can see the gear oil sitting in the bottom of the tube, and the hole where the splined end of the axle ends up when you re-insert it.



The Toyota inner axle seals are 2 3/4” wide. They must be driven into the axle housing perfectly flat. If they go in crooked, they will not seal properly.