It was looking better at this point but still needed more work. Installed new AC Delco rear springs to fix the sag. Rear is now 1/2” higher than the front. Much better!
Still leaking a little oil. Maybe 10 drops overnight. Used dye to trace it down to what I thought was the oil pan.
Out comes the diff to reseal the oil pan. It was a pain to remove alone but eventually it came out. Used leftover Toyota fipg from the valve cover job to seal it back up. Also replaced the passenger side CV that had a torn boot with a new Cardone one. Will rebuild the old OEM one for a spare at some point.
Removed the oil pickup to inspect and clean, looked fine though.
Cleaned everything up and put it back together. Also installed new steering rack bushings. This was cake with the diff out of the way. New OEM lower ball joints too. Still leaking oil from the same spot, but noticeably less now. Guessing it’s the RMS.
Onto the axle seals. One side was a mess and other was just weeping through the wheel stud holes. I held out on new tires until this was done because I didn’t want to get gear oil all over the new tires. Replaced the bearings, shoes, drums and hardware as well.
A $75 eBay puller tool made axle disassembly pretty simple. I was able to reuse the retainers and abs rings. Huge money saver there, even after buying the tool, and I have absolutely no idea why the FSM says to grind those off. There are tons of SST’s out there that are more complex than that puller.
Backing plates were toast though. One was rusted pretty good, and the other was so covered in crap, I was happy to not have to bother cleaning it up.
Got new OEM ones, which hurt, but whatever I’ll never have to do it again.
I followed a few people’s guides and flipped the retainer that the axle seal rides on and measured to make sure the revised seal rode in the correct spot. 3mm of polished axle was dead center for me.
Got it all back together, bled all the brakes, and had chatter from the new drums which caused this wear pattern after driving 1/2 mile.
Local shop found the new Wagner drums were freakin 70-80thou out of round! Amazon refunded the drums completely after telling them it cost $50 to get them turned. All good now and no more axle leak!
Found a local deal on TRD wheels with the tires I was already going to buy! Jumped on that one and here’s how it looks today. I’ve done a few other minor things like resolder the clock, hvac leds,and extend the rear diff breather, but this mostly covers it.
Here’s the tracking sheet of everything done to date. Should be good for awhile now. Some stuff would have been fine to address at a later date or leave alone, but the idea of being at the mercy of a random shop at some point in the upcoming cross country trip was too unsettling.
Thanks to all for the info shared on this forum and especially @ for those helpful videos! They really came in handy a few times while working on an unfamiliar platform. Knowing what I know now, I would’ve just pulled the engine right off the bat to make things a lot easier and more ergonomic.
I’ve put about 1k enjoyable, trouble free miles on it since all the work was done. Might tackle the RMS in the spring once I’ve spent more time driving it than wrenching, provided I don’t get cancer first from the 2 dozen cans of brake cleaner used throughout the project.