Axle Seal Woes...

[Renegade_Medic]

That was [MENTION=78997]Drcoffee[/MENTION] that did that comparison. The Toyota redesigned seal was certainly an improvement for sure in how radially flexible it is. Toyota just screwed up and made the seal lip sit 2mm more inboard and didn't really understand how dramatic the consequences were going to be. I wonder if they ever came out with a TSB for it warning mechanics that the inner retainer position needs to be adjusted because of the new seal design.

[MENTION=44971]RS Dude[/MENTION], I think you might regret going with that aftermarket seal and find you're pulling the axle yet again. And, if you take long trips, it might fail at a really inconvenient time. The Toyota seal is a really good design. it just sucks that the redesigned seal caused problems the Toyota engineers didn't think of.

I have a National seal in one side of mine and after about 20k miles, maybe more, no issues. That includes several 13hr+ trips non-stop. They certainly aren't better than Toyota, but that's all I could get at the time.

 

[Wedgy]

I'm something of a quick-change axle seal pro myself, now.

Have you checked the inside of the axle tube itself? I had a similar infuriating issue and couldn't figured it out. When the machine shop did my axle, they pressed the retainer on incorrectly and it was too far inboard. This was causing it to hit the inside of the axle and get very hot from friction, and melt the seals. It would pass the grease test, but after a few days of driving it would puke again. I eventually figured it out and told the shop. They pressed it on further and gave me a partial refund since I spent a ton of money on gear oil and OE seals (5 if I remember correctly). No issues since.

Here's what the inside of the axle housing looked like, notice the shiny ground off areas?

And the messed up retainer.

And here's how it should be (from another axle I had)

No scoring inside this one:

I'm not saying this is the problem, but it was for me. Fixed it about 20k miles ago and no issues, so safe to say that was it.

That is what mine looked like but it was rubbing from bearing thrust. When I was pulling the old seal out I found a bunch of metal dust so I stuck my finger inside the axle housing, glad I did because it was absolutely loaded with metal shavings. I messed up one of my OEM seals putting it in and popped in one of those 2 lip ones I had laying around so I will see how they do.

On a side note Hong Kong Freight is having a huge sale on the 20 ton press($139) plus they usual 25% off Memorial weekend coupon.

 

[mtbtim]

That is what mine looked like but it was rubbing from bearing thrust. When I was pulling the old seal out I found a bunch of metal dust so I stuck my finger inside the axle housing, glad I did because it was absolutely loaded with metal shavings. I messed up one of my OEM seals putting it in and popped in one of those 2 lip ones I had laying around so I will see how they do.

On a side note Hong Kong Freight is having a huge sale on the 20 ton press($139) plus they usual 25% off Memorial weekend coupon.

The Harbor Freight 20 Press is so affordable and it works awesome. I just used mine today to replace all the rear control arm bushings on my 98. If you like wrenching and have the space, this is a must have tool.

Something necessary to accompany the press is a press sleeve kit. I've gotten tons of use out of this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-...830765&hash=item2f1807247e:g:4g0AAOSwCGVX4i5m