CO_FlyFisher,

I'm not sure how long my seals had been leaking. The truck was about 2800 miles into a 3000 mile oil change interval, and it was not leaking the last time the oil was changed, so I know it was less than 2800 miles. In the week prior to noticing the problem I put about 1000 miles on the truck and I suspect it happened during that period.

Also, thanks for pointing that out about the play in the bearings. You are exactly right. Once I got my axles back I checked the new bearings and found they had just a small amount of play (the type that allows the backing plate to wobble) but not as much as the old bearings.

To ALL, thanks for the compliments. I have learned alot from this site and I wanted to give something back that would be useful to others. Since this is such a common problem for 4Runners, and all the prior write-ups are on other sites, I decided we needed a good one here.

P.S. I've got 500+ miles on the truck since I completed the work, including 70+ miles on rough washboard roads, and no leaks! Looks like it's good to go.