I took the Runner in for an alignment today, before I dropped it off, I had attempted(and failed, but that's another post) to install my new Moog rear springs and 1.25 spacers. While under there I noticed the rear of the tire/drum was soaked in fluid. Mind you I just did my brakes 1000 miles ago, I assumed that I had a bad wheel cylinder, Advance Auto parts, not uncommon for their stuff to fail quickly.
Anyway, I bring it in and dude immediately tells me axle seal, damn...I did those things 10K miles ago(inner/outer & bearings), crap...So he of course tells me its the outer seal, not the easily accessible inner seal. Me being suspicious of mechanics(sorry to the honest ones on here)I automatically question whether he is just reaching for the low hanging fruit, replace the outer for big bucks, than throw in the inner while at it. Needless to say, I brought it home, actually picked up an inner seal on the way home.

The big question, how can I tell if the inner or outer seal is the problem?
I'm going to replace the inner this week and clean up the mess, but how do
I know if it really is the outer? seems to me inner is more likely to fail and cause gear oil on the brakes.

Thanks!

The outer is more of a dust cover than a seal. If you've got gear oil it's the inner that's leaking, and five bucks says it's leaking because the wheel bearing is shot. If you don't have ABS it's an easy fix.

Toyota Maintenance: Replacing Rear Wheel Bearings and Seals

Make sure it's gear oil and not brake fluid though.

Thanks for the link.

I kind of thought the same thing, gear oil needs to get past the inner seal

to reach the brakes, I assumed that the outer protects the bearing from dirt.

Why do you think the bearing is gone? you think the failing seal has contaminated the bearing or the bearing has damaged the seal?

It is ABS, fairly stock and stays on the road, sometimes goes to the beach.
Bearings really have only 10K, had them done when I had the carrier rebuilt
about 4 yrs ago.

Gear oil

Because generally it's slop in the bearing that allows enough play at the shaft to kill the axle seal. It doesn't have to be a bad bearing, it could be a bent housing (not likely in your case) or it could just be a bad seal that let go early. But check the bearing, because it's very common for a bad bearing to be the cause of a bad seal. And if it's been leaking for a while, all that oil in your drums had to come through the bearing and it might not be well greased at this point.

Thanks KidV, I appreciate the input.
I'll take a close look at the bearing when I pull the axle.

And make sure to buy a good brand bearing if yours is bad. Lots of cheap bearings out there, I usually try to go with Koyo brand bearings, they seem to be made well and last a long time.

Just got back from 4 days at the beach, how sad it was to drive on the Cape Hatteras beach in 2 feet of soft sand in the passenger seat of my friends Honda Ridgeline...I drove it as well, almost got stuck.

I will say this about my Runner, no matter how much I ***** and moan about it being underpowered and overdesigned, when I put in in 4L on the
beach, it just goes, never gets stuck. Bone stock, has BFG's but I do have
the G144 options...helps a bit

Time to pull the axle and fix the stupid bearing and seals.

Do both sides...