eric70412
New member
Hi everone, Last month I was rotating my tires on the runner and I removed the drivers side tire and and found what looked to be grease coming out of the holes in the drum. Right away from reading on here I was like oh great its happening to my runner now! Rear axle seal leak! So I removed the drum and found that there was some grease on the pads and the surrounding areas and on the inside of the drum. Kinda looks like it might just of started to me..
I sprayed all of the grease off of the pads and the brake mechanisms but b4 I did that I snapped a few photos of the area the grease was on just for reference. Then I put it all back together to think about what I am gonna have to do now..
I did some research on here and a few other sites and I found out about that rear diff breather thing. Well I took it to the dealer and he said yep gonna have to replace the axle seals on that side and they wanted about 400 plus new brakes and would do the job. Well I said I would have to think about it!
So anyway the one day I decided to take it to a foreign mechanic that I used to go to and see what he had to say. He was nice enough to come out and climb underneath and while he was under there I noticed he was feeling around on the rear differential. So I questioned him about it and he said well im not sure but this could be you problem. Your differential breather is frozen and showed me where it was and stated that the cap on the top of it is supposed to move freely and that mine is all rusty and corroded and is not moving and lose like its supposed to. He said for me to try and replace that breather and see what happens based on how I described the leak to him that might cause the seals to quit leaking!!
So I thanked him and I went straight to toyota and ordered a new breather plug and was able to replace the old with the new one! I also remeoved the drum again and snapped a few more pictures and well it looked good still from me cleaning it a few days prior to this day. Which kinda tells me that its not a bad leak I dont think anyway. But I dont drive the truck all the time since I have 2 other cars that I drive. I figured I would wait and check it again in a month to see if it is still leaking..
Well its been a month and the truck is running fine, no grabbing or anything (it never did). I pulled the drum off and well there was still some on the pads maybe cause it was soaked into them? On the shiny part of the drum it was kinda sticky but was no way as bad as it was and maybe it was just from the grease that is soaked into the pads? Thats what im thinking anyway! On the brake mechanisms its self there was little to no grease on them and then I looked at the axle shaft (right behind the 6 studs that spin) where I think is the source of the leak is but not sure and well it was pretty much as clean as the day that I sprayed off that gunk from it with the brake cleaner! I tried to drive it as much as possible durring that month to see..
Im gonna try and post a few photos of the drum and the axle shaft b4 (a month ago) when I first noticed the leak and after I cleaned up the pads and then a few of it now a month later..
But my question is and im gonna point it out in the photos. Is this where I would be seeing the leak on the axle shaft or should I be looking elsewhere for the source of the leak??
It never blew out yet all over the back side of the tire as ive seen in some of the photos on here with guys that have the seal leak..
Hope you all can give me some advice and I hope the pictures come out so you can see what im talking about.. Sorry this was so long but im just trying to get my point across..
Thank you
Eric
I sprayed all of the grease off of the pads and the brake mechanisms but b4 I did that I snapped a few photos of the area the grease was on just for reference. Then I put it all back together to think about what I am gonna have to do now..
I did some research on here and a few other sites and I found out about that rear diff breather thing. Well I took it to the dealer and he said yep gonna have to replace the axle seals on that side and they wanted about 400 plus new brakes and would do the job. Well I said I would have to think about it!
So anyway the one day I decided to take it to a foreign mechanic that I used to go to and see what he had to say. He was nice enough to come out and climb underneath and while he was under there I noticed he was feeling around on the rear differential. So I questioned him about it and he said well im not sure but this could be you problem. Your differential breather is frozen and showed me where it was and stated that the cap on the top of it is supposed to move freely and that mine is all rusty and corroded and is not moving and lose like its supposed to. He said for me to try and replace that breather and see what happens based on how I described the leak to him that might cause the seals to quit leaking!!
So I thanked him and I went straight to toyota and ordered a new breather plug and was able to replace the old with the new one! I also remeoved the drum again and snapped a few more pictures and well it looked good still from me cleaning it a few days prior to this day. Which kinda tells me that its not a bad leak I dont think anyway. But I dont drive the truck all the time since I have 2 other cars that I drive. I figured I would wait and check it again in a month to see if it is still leaking..
Well its been a month and the truck is running fine, no grabbing or anything (it never did). I pulled the drum off and well there was still some on the pads maybe cause it was soaked into them? On the shiny part of the drum it was kinda sticky but was no way as bad as it was and maybe it was just from the grease that is soaked into the pads? Thats what im thinking anyway! On the brake mechanisms its self there was little to no grease on them and then I looked at the axle shaft (right behind the 6 studs that spin) where I think is the source of the leak is but not sure and well it was pretty much as clean as the day that I sprayed off that gunk from it with the brake cleaner! I tried to drive it as much as possible durring that month to see..
Im gonna try and post a few photos of the drum and the axle shaft b4 (a month ago) when I first noticed the leak and after I cleaned up the pads and then a few of it now a month later..
But my question is and im gonna point it out in the photos. Is this where I would be seeing the leak on the axle shaft or should I be looking elsewhere for the source of the leak??
It never blew out yet all over the back side of the tire as ive seen in some of the photos on here with guys that have the seal leak..
Hope you all can give me some advice and I hope the pictures come out so you can see what im talking about.. Sorry this was so long but im just trying to get my point across..
Thank you
Eric
