Title pretty much says it. Replaced the rear wheel bearings, axle seals, etc today. Driver side is nice and tight but passenger side I can push and pull ever so slightly still. What could this indicate? I’d hate to ruin another axle seal due to this, so I’ve paused my reassembly until I figure out what the cause is / whether it’s a problem.
New rear wheel bearings and axle seal....can move hub in and out slightly
- Thread starter MudMud
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mtbtim
Elite Member
The new bearings do have slight play. If you properly supported the inner race of the bearing when pressing the axle through the bearing, you did it right. I wouldn't worry about it for now. If you got the seal lip close to the center of the polished shoulder of the inner retainer, you can have some slight movement and the seal will be fine. It's only when the seal is riding very close to the non-polished bevel that this slight movement could cause the seal to ride on the bevel and then fail prematurely. You can keep an eye on it by pulling the ABS sensor every so often to see if any gear oil is getting past the seal.
So...new mystery. Passenger side went back together without a hitch, now about to get started on the driver side brakes and um...these aren't the right brakes.
Attached is a photo of the currently installed driver side brakes. As you can see, not only are these the wrong pads and equipment, but the parking brake adjuster is missing completely. So now I'm not sure how to proceed, because....
When I did the axle seal on the driver side, the dust boot didn't fit snugly into the housing, so I just cleaned up and put the old one back on because it was in good shape. I just assumed that I had been sent the wrong dust boot. Now I'm wondering if someone didn't just completely replace the driver side shaft in the past and maybe it's a different size altogether? IE, do I go and buy new brake hardware to fit the *CORRECT* pads and assume my shaft is correct and that the new hardware will fit in just fine into the assembly? Or do I try to figure out if I even have the correct shaft?
I'm not sure whether someone just did a brake job and used shitty/the wrong parts or if they replaced the axle shaft with a donor that is slightly different sized (The new dust boot being loose is what has me worried that it's not an exactly correct shaft)
Thoughts?
Attached is a photo of the currently installed driver side brakes. As you can see, not only are these the wrong pads and equipment, but the parking brake adjuster is missing completely. So now I'm not sure how to proceed, because....
When I did the axle seal on the driver side, the dust boot didn't fit snugly into the housing, so I just cleaned up and put the old one back on because it was in good shape. I just assumed that I had been sent the wrong dust boot. Now I'm wondering if someone didn't just completely replace the driver side shaft in the past and maybe it's a different size altogether? IE, do I go and buy new brake hardware to fit the *CORRECT* pads and assume my shaft is correct and that the new hardware will fit in just fine into the assembly? Or do I try to figure out if I even have the correct shaft?
I'm not sure whether someone just did a brake job and used shitty/the wrong parts or if they replaced the axle shaft with a donor that is slightly different sized (The new dust boot being loose is what has me worried that it's not an exactly correct shaft)
Thoughts?
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mtbtim
Elite Member
I guess it's possible somebody replaced the axle but it could be that someone did the brakes and forgot how everything went back together. While doing the press work, I'm pretty sure you would have noticed one axle being different. Like you noticed, you are missing the adjuster plate that connects to the parking brake lever and they have the star adjuster flipped. You would just need to get another adjuster plate and flip the orientation of the star adjuster. Oh the joys of finding out the previous owner or the person they brought it to for repairs was an incompetent mechanic.
By the way, what dust boot are you talking about? Is it the one that faces the brakes and sits into the bearing case?
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mtbtim
Elite Member
I think there is a chance you have a different axle now that I've given it more thought. Toyota changed the bearing design for the 2001 and 2002 models and I think they changed the axle slightly too. The bearing case is supposedly different on these models too to accept the bearing with the extended collar design.
I found this post on a different forum describing what I'm talking about: https://www.toyota-4runner.org/651350-post7.html
If that dust seal didn't fit in correctly, you might have the newer axle on that side. So you may have installed the older bearing style on the newer axle. Would this make a big difference, who knows. But, when you pressed the parts off, did you notice that side had a different bearing?
I found this post on a different forum describing what I'm talking about: https://www.toyota-4runner.org/651350-post7.html
If that dust seal didn't fit in correctly, you might have the newer axle on that side. So you may have installed the older bearing style on the newer axle. Would this make a big difference, who knows. But, when you pressed the parts off, did you notice that side had a different bearing?
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mtbtim said:
Yes, exactly. On the driver side (The one with the different axle), I could move the new seal around a bit, so reused the old one thinking I just had a wrong part.
At the time I didn't notice. The driver side bearing was completely destroyed so I just pulled it off and tossed it aside. HOWEVER, I just now dug it out of the rag pile and sure as shit, it's a different bearing with a little collar on it. Really can't believe I didn't notice that before.mtbtim said:
So now what? Order new (Bearing and boot I assume) parts for the correct axle? Run with what I've got and hope for the best (After addressing the missing brake parts)? Something else?
mtbtim
Elite Member
If you have a caliper measuring tool and the inner race of the new style bearing is still intact, take a measurement of the diameter of the inner race and then compare that to the inner race of the old style bearing. If they are the same, that means they will both fit properly on the axle. Now take a measurement of the outside diameter of both bearing outer races. If those are the same as well, that means they must both have the same diameter bearing case.
If both these measurements check out, I don't see why you couldn't run the old style bearing on the new shaft unless I'm missing something. I really wonder what that collar protrusion on the new bearing does though. I've done a set of axles with the newer bearings but I don't remember any type of interface that collar has with the bearing case but I could be wrong. Maybe somebody who has done this job with the newer axles will remember better than I.
mtbtim
Elite Member
Damn, it does matter. The newer axle has a rounded seat that the protrusion collar mates up with. Take a look at this thread post from [MENTION=168172]sleepydad[/MENTION]
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3336840-post10.html
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3336840-post10.html
Damnit man. Just when I thought I was wrapping this up - Quarantine the past 2 weeks has made this slow going...
So, I did some digging, and the newer axle DOES have different brake components as well. That explains why the driver side brakes look different (Note the square hole on the right side of my photo - Older style pads do not have that, and there is a spring in that hole on the newer style). It also has a different backing plate so I can't just switch stuff out.
So now WTF should I do? I hate having mismatched stuff on there - It makes things like this a pain in the ass. I feel like I might be best off finding a used older style driver side axle - I already have the new correct bearing, the new correct dust cap thing, the new correct brake pads...And then I'd have matching parts for future work.
Thoughts?
So, I did some digging, and the newer axle DOES have different brake components as well. That explains why the driver side brakes look different (Note the square hole on the right side of my photo - Older style pads do not have that, and there is a spring in that hole on the newer style). It also has a different backing plate so I can't just switch stuff out.
So now WTF should I do? I hate having mismatched stuff on there - It makes things like this a pain in the ass. I feel like I might be best off finding a used older style driver side axle - I already have the new correct bearing, the new correct dust cap thing, the new correct brake pads...And then I'd have matching parts for future work.
Thoughts?
mtbtim
Elite Member
I honestly would probably go the route of finding a matching older style axle so both have the same brakes. I like the older style brakes anyway. If you have a PickNPull near you, you'll most likely find an axle off a wrecked 3rd Gen.
