A $12 Part That May Have Cost Me Dearly

[Last Man Standing]

Well, did the Pumpkin vent cap and after taking the old one out it appears
the rust belt may have contributed to the demise of my axle seals going bad? This vent cap is in the worst spot when driving in a winter area that's salts roads................

I decided to go the extra step that "Timmy The Tool Man " showed in his video and let me tell to the one tip he gave was to drop the spare, should have listened to his words of wisdom, lol Now that the vent is inside the gs cap area that sucker won't need replacing again. The 02 has 170K on it so well past it's needed replacement time frame in these parts.

LMS

 

[brillo_76]

Yup it amazing how bad those rust up. I figure better check every 5 years replace every 10. Same as the denso radiator.

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[MaineRunna]

Yup it amazing how bad those rust up. I figure better check every 5 years replace every 10. Same as the denso radiator.

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Extending the vent hose up the fuel filler neck is a great mod. I find that the Denso radiator trans coolers fail at about 15-20 years. It's something I recommend as a precaution to customers with 3rd gen T4R's, Tacos, and 1st gen Tundras with automatics.

 

[Last Man Standing]

Extending the vent hose up the fuel filler neck is a great mod. I find that the Denso radiator trans coolers fail at about 15-20 years. It's something I recommend as a precaution to customers with 3rd gen T4R's, Tacos, and 1st gen Tundras with automatics.

MaineRunna,

Thank you very much for that suggestion as I had not thought of that in my lineup of upgrades to the 02!

LMS

 

[JohnMc]

If that was stuck and forcing oil out past the seals, it's very likely that fixing it will stop the leak. The seals are spring loaded, it's not like a little oil pushed past them will make them go bad. You will need to take the drums off and clean up the mess inside though. And probably put new shoes on - there's no good way to get oil out of the linings.

 

[Last Man Standing]

If that was stuck and forcing oil out past the seals, it's very likely that fixing it will stop the leak. The seals are spring loaded, it's not like a little oil pushed past them will make them go bad. You will need to take the drums off and clean up the mess inside though. And probably put new shoes on - there's no good way to get oil out of the linings.

JohnMc,

My other concern is has the grease been washed away from the bearings as well? There is the elephant in the room

 

[Kanoe]

Are your brakes contaminated? If so, I would think it is beyond a stuck breather and now Leaking seal time.

When I caught my leaking seals, it was still in the abs cavity and not beyond. The bearings were essentially grease free at that point with the sludge in the abs cavity. I replaced the bearings as they were original at 175,000 km. New ones were tighter.

 

[JWaldz]

What does the rear main seal have to do with the rear diff? Were you referring to your outer axle seals?

 

[Last Man Standing]

What does the rear main seal have to do with the rear diff? Were you referring to your outer axle seals?

Yes, my bad......Corrected the mistake in above post. Thanks

 

[brillo_76]

Extending the vent hose up the fuel filler neck is a great mod. I find that the Denso radiator trans coolers fail at about 15-20 years. It's something I recommend as a precaution to customers with 3rd gen T4R's, Tacos, and 1st gen Tundras with automatics.

I did that for a while and changed it back. Being mine are mainly DD and road use. No need to extend my breather. Great tip of the rads if closer to 15-20 years I would exchange them at 10 years. Not much worse then the milkshake..:/

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[gamefreakgc]

JohnMc,

My other concern is has the grease been washed away from the bearings as well? There is the elephant in the room

They will let you know if they have gone bad. Just lift the wheels in the rear, shift to neutral and give them a good spin. Make sure the brakes aren't dragging but if it sounds quiet with only a few clicks and such you are good.

I replaced my bearings 2 years ago only to have the seal fail again a few months later. I didn't replace the bearings a second time and they are just fine. Not much, if any, oil made it past the outer seal.

 

[Last Man Standing]

They will let you know if they have gone bad. Just lift the wheels in the rear, shift to neutral and give them a good spin. Make sure the brakes aren't dragging but if it sounds quiet with only a few clicks and such you are good.

I replaced my bearings 2 years ago only to have the seal fail again a few months later. I didn't replace the bearings a second time and they are just fine. Not much, if any, oil made it past the outer seal.

gamefreakgc,

Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions!
I did spin the wheels however I was not paying attention to this point during my repair of the parking brakes. I will try and do that this weekend? The fact your seal failed has been on my mind especially after watching Tim's video on the method he used to solve this by inverting the bearing retainer so the bevel faces the hub instead of the oil seal? Seems like he only gained an additional 1/16" of increase on the surface of the retainer! To bad someone hasn't made a larger retainer due to this issue.

LMS

 

[Kanoe]

To bad someone hasn't made a larger retainer due to this issue.

LMS

Thing is, there isn’t room in there for a larger retainer. It’s a space of mm between the retainer and the axle housing as it is. That’s why the flip and maybe scootching 1 mm in is about as good as you can get. Then you run out of clearance.

 

[Last Man Standing]

Thing is, there isn’t room in there for a larger retainer. It’s a space of mm between the retainer and the axle housing as it is. That’s why the flip and maybe scootching 1 mm in is about as good as you can get. Then you run out of clearance.

Kanoe,

Makes sense then, wonder what the designers had in mind for such a limited
amount of surface contact with the retainer? Perhaps a wear issue to the seal
surface? I don't want to go thru the process to see it fail or be short lived that's for sure.....Thanks for the insight on this.

LMS

 

[gamefreakgc]

gamefreakgc,

Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions!
I did spin the wheels however I was not paying attention to this point during my repair of the parking brakes. I will try and do that this weekend? The fact your seal failed has been on my mind especially after watching Tim's video on the method he used to solve this by inverting the bearing retainer so the bevel faces the hub instead of the oil seal? Seems like he only gained an additional 1/16" of increase on the surface of the retainer! To bad someone hasn't made a larger retainer due to this issue.

LMS

That's what stopped my leak, flipping the retainer. The poor machine shop was so confused and almost refused to do it because it's wrong but it worked so far, no more leaks.

 

[Haybale]

Doing the rear diff breather mod and rear bearings and seals this weekend

 

[Last Man Standing]

Doing the rear diff breather mod and rear bearings and seals this weekend

Haybale,

The mod for the breather took me about an hour or so. I found that the point where the fuel line goes under the filler tube is a point you will need to add a layer of extra tubing around the fuel line for the vent so the abrasion doesn't wear it down. If you reviewed Tim's video you will know what I am talking about, if not let me know and I will take a picture of what I did.

Also, keep track of time involved and any thoughts you have on this repair of the axle seals and bearings.

LMS

 

[Mackalicious]

Thanks! I need to go check mine.

 

[96RedRunner]

When changing the seals on 3 rearends that were original seals knowing they were factory installed. I noticed the seals were bottomed out on the ledge that is the axle housing design in the seal area. Not needing to change any bearings I studied and measured the depth the seal is installed into axle housing. Didn't want to have to move or flip retainer. When I installed new seals I did not bottom them out in the axle tube. Using a depth micrometer I installed the seals 3mm less than what they were which moved seal 3mm outboard on the retainer. The grease test showed good, axles have 5-20k miles on them with no prolems. I did this knowing folks were moving retainer flipping retainer, I wanted to find a different way to skin this cat with least amount of work and hassle.

 

[BrianK14]

96RR, that is an interesting strategy. How did you confirm that the seal was square in the housing (and would stay there)? And, 3mm is very precision work for a seal driver and hammer. How did you install precisely 3mm outboard? Perhaps what we need to make this job simple is a 3mm spacer for the housing, then the seal installed.