Found this on craigslist for a winter ride. Incredibly clean but some rust. Paint was oxidized but it came back very nicely with some polishing compound (I was one door in when I took the pic). Registered it a few weeks ago and found this leak today. I read that the axleseals go often but the fluid did not have a smell I could notice. I was thinking maybe brake fluid but the reservoir is full and I haven't topped it off. My first 4x4 so advice appreciated. Hoping its a fix I can tackle before we get any more snow. Thanks

It's an axle seal or it's brake fluid. Probably an axle seal, that much brake fluid should have put a dent in your reservoir.

It's not hard to replace. Here's a nifty writeup: Toyota Maintenance: Replacing a Rear Axle Seal

Most definently axle seal

That door paint looks pretty good... I may have to try that myself!
Oh yea... looks like you are gonna learn how to replace your axle seal.

Thanks for the replies. Replaced the seal today instead of raking leaves. Insane amounts of debris embedded in old gear oil, let me grab a pic to post. Must've been leaking forever. The guy at the shop said I'd need 80-90 gear oil, lmk if theres something particular I should fill with (will not be on the road for a few days yet). Took almost the entire quart of oil before I noticed any overflow. The breather is soaking in PB blaster and I'm going to try and pull the cap to see if it's plugged tomorrow.

I was able to cap the brake line pretty quickly and avoid fluid loss when I removed it, but it took forever to get the sucker to thread back on and I'm pretty sure at this point the rear brakes need bled. Anyone have a link to a DIY?

Not a very good photo, but about 1/10th of the gunk I'd scraped off. This reminds me, the bump stops from either side were just sitting loose in the springs - do I need to reattach and if so how?


Keeping watch