Need some expert input on this axle bearing job

[WrenchTech]

All right, I tore into this job this afternoon expecting things to go pretty well, partly because I was well prepared. I have done the job before on a couple of non-ABS Toyota trucks. I also recently purchased an adapter for my press tool to pull off the tone ring. Imagine my surprise when I pulled the axle out and found that the tone ring was pressed on so far that I couldn’t get the adapter under it, and there seems to be no snap ring or snap ring groove anywhere in the vicinity in which you would expect to find those things. If the tone ring is pressed in too far, along with the retaining collar, I wondered, if the oil seal actually making contact with it. I smeared some grease on the retaining collar and stuffed the axle back into the housing and gave it a whirl . When I pulled it out I didn’t see any marks to indicate that the retaining collar had made contact with it. By the way, this axle was leaking oil pretty badly. My main question is, where the heck is the groove in the axle for the snap ring? Is it underneath that retaining collar? How could it be, if it’s pressed on too far.

 

[WrenchTech]

OK, I was under the impression there was a snap ring associated with this collar but it looks like the only snap ring is underneath that to hold the or secure the bearing itself. So now my problem still is that it looks like the tone ring and the retaining collar for it have been pushed on too far and I can’t get my recently purchased an adapter underneath it to pull it off. I think I might have a solution though I have a gear splitter type pulling kit that might do the job.

Below is a screen grab that I took from Timmy the tool man video on the axle job. He is pictured here using the kind of set up that I’m talking about .

 

[mtbtim]

Matt, the person who did that previous work should be shot, not just once, but multiple times so they never get a chance to work on a vehicle again. They didn't use an outer retainer with a c-clip to hold the bearing in place. That retainer was a mile away from mating with the seal. Glad you found our video so you can repair the atrocious mistake made by the last owner or some seriously incompetent mechanic.

We also have a Part 2 to our video that showcases a better tool for this job and updated tips. In the video, I talk about saving money on the parts, by reusing all 4 old retainers and both ABS tone rings. We've discovered it's not a good idea to reuse an old retainer at the inner position because the retainer sustains some slight gouging on the inner diameter surface upon removal from the axle and this could be a pathway for gear oil to get through the metal to metal connection of the retainer to the axle. So, you can reuse both ABS tone rings and 2 of the retainers used at the outer positions against the bearings but buy 2 new retainers for the inner positions.


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[WrenchTech]

Thanks Tim. You have really done a lot for the third generation community. I hope you’re making money on YouTube. I noticed that you are in San Jose.I used to live in Los Gatos back in the late 80s and early 90s. In 1989 I bought a used 1984 Toyota extra cab 4 x 4 SR5 that was from Palo Alto Toyota. You are definitely in Toyota heaven over there.

 

[Bad Luck]

I agree with mtbtim. It looks like whoever worked on it last forgot the outer retainer and c clip. Have you tried removing the axle to axle housing studs to try and get a bearing splitter behind the abs tone ring?

 

[mtbtim]

Thanks Tim. You have really done a lot for the third generation community. I hope you’re making money on YouTube. I noticed that you are in San Jose.I used to live in Los Gatos back in the late 80s and early 90s. In 1989 I bought a used 1984 Toyota extra cab 4 x 4 SR5 that was from Palo Alto Toyota. You are definitely in Toyota heaven over there.

Yep, born and raised in California and have lived 98% of my life in San Jose. I lived one year in Mountain View. My house is right on the border of Campbell.
My girlfriend and I do bike rides to Los Gatos all the time on my old cruisers that I've collected over the years. We have an access point to the Los Gatos Creek trail right near our house and we do a 7 miles ride to downtown LG for lunch or breakfast and then we ride back.

Yep, no shortage of Toyota trucks on the road around me. The lack of snow and ice and the salting of the roads that comes with it means they can last forever out here without rusting all to shit.

I love California for the weather and topography. I can do great mtn bike riding in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I can be at the beach in 30 minutes (no traffic). I can visit the Sierras for biking, wheeling, backpacking, and fishing. What I absolutely hate about California are the politics and this year has been especially bad with the response we have had to live under due to Covid-19. I thought I would never leave California but now my mother, brother, girlfriend and myself are heavily considering getting the hell out. It's sad because California is an awesome state but lots of people and businesses have read the writing on the wall that things aren't going to get better unless voters pull their heads out of their asses and start voting out the Democrat establishment and get better people running the state. Oh, did you hear, by 2035, you won't be able to buy a gasoline of diesel powered vehicle in California anymore? You'll only be able to get an electric vehicle. Every time I think things can't get worse in California, they do. The homelessness problem is out of control. Anyway, enough said on this. I can complain all day about what California has become.

 

[WrenchTech]

I agree with mtbtim. It looks like whoever worked on it last forgot the outer retainer and c clip. Have you tried removing the axle to axle housing studs to try and get a bearing splitter behind the abs tone ring?

In an earlier post I said that I was going to try the gear splitter today. I did and it did not work because the tone ring was pressed on too far, leaving no room to get the gear splitter under it. So I resorted to desperation measures. With my 4 1/2 inch grinder I ground the retainer and and tone ring till they were thin and then pop them off with a chisel. It looks like I wasn’t as careful as I thought . So I did manage to scratch the axle shaft with the grinder. By the way there was no c-clip for the tone ring retainer. There is no groove in the axle shaft for one either.

I have only looked at the driver side axle so far. I have yet to see if the passenger side is as messed up. I am going to take a quick look and see if any wrecking yards have axles for a reasonable price. I am still wondering why there was no c-clip for the tone ring retainer.

 

[WrenchTech]

I checked the price at wrecking yards for used axles. They are running about $75-$125. Rock auto has them for $105 under the brand-name Dana. Anybody have any thoughts about buying a Dana axle from rock auto?

I also found out that my 12 ton press is too small for these axles. It works for the earlier trucks, but not with these. So I have the added expense now of having to buy a 20 ton press. Unfortunately I just missed one of the better sales they’ve had in quite a while on that price, but I think a 20% off coupon will work and bring it down from $199 to around $160. Not too bad for what you get!

 

[BrianK14]

I have a pair of good condition OEM axles I’ll sell you for cheap. Send me a PM if interested.

 

[WrenchTech]

I have a pair of good condition OEM axles I’ll sell you for cheap. Send me a PM if interested.

I tried to send you a message through the private message system, but I cannot tell if it actually was sent out. My sent message folder still reads zero. It is a shame too because I would like to get moving on this project.

 

[Kanoe]

By the way there was no c-clip for the tone ring retainer. There is no groove in the axle shaft for one either.

I have only looked at the driver side axle so far. I have yet to see if the passenger side is as messed up. I am going to take a quick look and see if any wrecking yards have axles for a reasonable price. I am still wondering why there was no c-clip for the tone ring retainer.

There is only one c-clip, the one on the outboard side. The tone ring and inner retainer are just press fit, no clip. Excuse the post if I misunderstood your question.

Sucks about the axle damage. Maybe the PO did it and not yourself. It would have been hidden.

 

[Dieselchessy]

Confused as to why you seem to think there should be more than one groove and one C-clip?

There should be just one to help retain the axle in the bearing plate. That’s so the axle doesn’t slide out causing an accident.

I don’t recall ever seeing a second grove and ring to retain the tone ring or retainer/seal ring. Would be no need, they aren’t critical.

 

[WrenchTech]

Confused as to why you seem to think there should be more than one groove and one C-clip?

There should be just one to help retain the axle in the bearing plate. That’s so the axle doesn’t slide out causing an accident.

I don’t recall ever seeing a second grove and ring to retain the tone ring or retainer/seal ring. Would be no need, they aren’t critical.

Thanks for the clarification. I should have looked at my factory service manual before I started this job. It is away in storage and I have been lazy about going to get it. If you look at my second post in this thread you can see that I figured it out by then. My first ABS job and I was clueless.

 

[Limoncho]

Great advice

 

[Bad Luck]

In an earlier post I said that I was going to try the gear splitter today. I did and it did not work because the tone ring was pressed on too far, leaving no room to get the gear splitter under it. So I resorted to desperation measures. With my 4 1/2 inch grinder I ground the retainer and and tone ring till they were thin and then pop them off with a chisel. It looks like I wasn’t as careful as I thought . So I did manage to scratch the axle shaft with the grinder. By the way there was no c-clip for the tone ring retainer. There is no groove in the axle shaft for one either.

I have only looked at the driver side axle so far. I have yet to see if the passenger side is as messed up. I am going to take a quick look and see if any wrecking yards have axles for a reasonable price. I am still wondering why there was no c-clip for the tone ring retainer.

I was going off the picture you had posted that still showed the axle to axle housing studs still in the axle. I had to knock one of those studs out in order to pull the abs tone ring off.

 

[WrenchTech]

I went over to the passenger side today and pulled out the axle and found that it too had the tone ring pressed on way too far. So I got out the grinder and went after the retaining ring and the tone ring with perfect success. No damage done to the axle. The secret, as far as I’m concerned is, that you don’t have to grind more than 2/3 of the way through those pieces before you can crack them with a chisel. I used my trusty Milwaukee 4-1/2” magnum grinder with a fat grinding wheel, not a thin cut off wheel. I think cutting with a thin wheel is more dangerous. With a grinding wheel that is about 1/4” - 5/16” thick you grind away the pieces rather than try to cut them.I think this is better than trying to guess how deep your narrow cutting wheel, whether on a Dremel tool or a grinder, is cutting. So now I just have to find one axle and buy two tone rings and two retaining rings. Amazon has the Dorman brand tone rings for $38 each and Toyota OEM retaining rings for the ridiculous price of $21 each. They are going to get my order though, because nobody can deliver as fast and as cheap.

 

[WrenchTech]

Cancel that last idea. I discovered that a wrecking yard, just a few miles from my house, has a pair of axles for a reasonable price, so now I’m going to go that route. Rather than order some new tone wheels and retaining rings and have to wait several days for that stuff to arrive I should have the axles in hand by tomorrow afternoon and I found that my local NAPA auto parts store is able to get the retaining rings under the SKF brand by 8 AM tomorrow. The axle shafts that I pulled off my vehicle have newer backing plates, so I will be reusing those and installing my bearing service kits sourced from Marlin Crawler, which came with Nachi bearings and OEM retaining rings, snap rings and seals. I think I’m going to have a little fun too, cutting up an old axle housing and working with some other steel pieces to make some axle specific press accessories.