Axle seal leaking after break inspection

[blaze17]

Had new tires installed Wednesday and noticed the tech bashing the drivers side rear drum with a huge hammer to remove it for the customary break inspection. The next day the I can feel the breaks dragging, can smell it when I get out, and sure enough that drum is hot as hell. Take it back and they tell me the axle seal is leaking, the shoes are saturated, and it must have started to drag because they adjusted it. I ask why they didn't see the leak yesterday and they tell me it's the poor lighting in the shop. So there's enough light to perform a break inspection and adjustment but not enough to see the leak?! I'm at 230K so I knew this was coming but I can't help but wonder if the hammer method was a contributing factor......................

 

[shahsmerdis]

Had new tires installed Wednesday and noticed the tech bashing the drivers side rear drum with a huge hammer to remove it for the customary break inspection. The next day the I can feel the breaks dragging, can smell it when I get out, and sure enough that drum is hot as hell. Take it back and they tell me the axle seal is leaking, the shoes are saturated, and it must have started to drag because they adjusted it. I ask why they didn't see the leak yesterday and they tell me it's the poor lighting in the shop. So there's enough light to perform a break inspection and adjustment but not enough to see the leak?! I'm at 230K so I knew this was coming but I can't help but wonder if the hammer method was a contributing factor......................

I don't think you need to hammer out the drum..... there is an adjuster you need to dial down, also there are screws holes, where i believe you can screw in 8mm bolts to remove the drum.

if hit the axle i guess i can leak.... or promote something that was going to leak soon anyway.

how often do you go to this shop? is it a reputable one or one that you go to do your inspection with.

no way it was leaking before you went there....

Edit: thought about it some more. Good luck getting them to do anything, but they probably nudged the leak, then again im no expert.

where were they hitting?

 

[KidVermicious]

I ask why they didn't see the leak yesterday and they tell me it's the poor lighting in the shop.

K, smacking the drum with a hammer isn't out of line if the tech didn't know about the threaded holes to back the drum off, and I wouldn't think that would normally cause a leak, it's standard procedure. But the quoted part is bullshit - a leak so bad that it saturated and swelled your shoes in a day would have literally filled the drum with black goo before you'd gone in there.

I'd tell you to stick to your guns on this one, but you don't want a shop this inept doing your axle seals. Make a stink, see if you can get a free brake service out of them, but replace the seal yourself or take it somewhere that knows Toyotas for that service.

 

[shahsmerdis]

K, smacking the drum with a hammer isn't out of line if the tech didn't know about the threaded holes to back the drum off, and I wouldn't think that would normally cause a leak, it's standard procedure. But the quoted part is bullshit - a leak so bad that it saturated and swelled your shoes in a day would have literally filled the drum with black goo before you'd gone in there.

I'd tell you to stick to your guns on this one, but you don't want a shop this inept doing your axle seals. Make a stink, see if you can get a free brake service out of them, but replace the seal yourself or take it somewhere that knows Toyotas for that service.

I'm always mind blasted how a shop can survive and not know to disengage the parking brake or use the threaded holes in the drum. I guess they always put the newbies on brakes. which is worst thing you can do since brakes are the most important part of the car.

 

[blaze17]

This was my first time at this tire shop. They are the highest rated shop in town. They insisted that to replace the seal you have press out the bearing. I took the truck to a trusted Toyota dealership and had the seal, o-ring, and shoes replaced. They did not have to touch the bearing. The Toyota dealer service manager said they sometimes have to get rough with the drum to get them off, but try penetrating oil and the bolts first. I also spoke to the dealer technician and he said he would never beat on anything with high mileage like that and that the other side looked fine. I will be letting the tire shop know that I am not impressed.

 

[shahsmerdis]

This was my first time at this tire shop. They are the highest rated shop in town. They insisted that to replace the seal you have press out the bearing. I took the truck to a trusted Toyota dealership and had the seal, o-ring, and shoes replaced. They did not have to touch the bearing. The Toyota dealer service manager said they sometimes have to get rough with the drum to get them off, but try penetrating oil and the bolts first. I also spoke to the dealer technician and he said he would never beat on anything with high mileage like that and that the other side looked fine. I will be letting the tire shop know that I am not impressed.

Wow. Even my rusty neglected 4th gen wasn't that hard. I really wish there was a warning sign that said, DO NOT BANG. love taps is all you need.

How much was the damage ? . Glad to hear you got your car on the road.

Glad you didnt go back there, there is a local shop with 33 5 star yelp reviews in the area. The guy curses at you, and didn't bleed all the brakes after master cylinder went low. good reviews don't always mean good shop... unfortunately.

 

[nevada]

Had new tires installed Wednesday and noticed the tech bashing the drivers side rear drum with a huge hammer to remove it for the customary break inspection. The next day the I can feel the breaks dragging, can smell it when I get out, and sure enough that drum is hot as hell. Take it back and they tell me the axle seal is leaking, the shoes are saturated, and it must have started to drag because they adjusted it. I ask why they didn't see the leak yesterday and they tell me it's the poor lighting in the shop. So there's enough light to perform a break inspection and adjustment but not enough to see the leak?! I'm at 230K so I knew this was coming but I can't help but wonder if the hammer method was a contributing factor......................

unless the bearing is bad, beating on the drum isn't going to wreck the seal.
I have had to wail on some drums to get them off before, its just how it goes sometimes.

 

[St Runner]

Seems to me that it has been leaking for a while and they had a hard time getting the drum off because the brake shoes swelled. It probably was pretty obvious what the problem was when the took the drum off but they should have let you know right then. Its like opening up some container in the fridge and its disgusting, but you don't put it back in the fridge you deal with it.

 

[dallison]

A light bulb just went off for me. I had just dealt with this a couple days ago. I was replacing the rear shocks and springs and figured that it was a few years since i had checked the brakes. I pried like hell to get the driver side off and really thought it was odd that i was having such difficulty.

I used everything in my arsenal including the almost 20 year old bolt to back of the drum. The passenger side was pretty easy, BUT there wasn't much grease on that side. The driver side was coated.

I paid the local dealer after calling the other two for quotes. I ended up paying around $300 with a coupon to have both sides of the axle seals replaced.

There is some comfort knowing a qualified repair shop did the work. Doing this yourself can take a wrong turn in so many ways. If you don't have a familiar shop to press the seals, you'll run into problems.

I was wondering why i had a hard time getting that damn thing off.

I have new drums, shoes, and hardware on order. They are the original drums and the dealer wanted $300 to resurface the drums and replace the shoes

Seems to me that it has been leaking for a while and they had a hard time getting the drum off because the brake shoes swelled.