Ready to do Axle bearing (questions)

CVELD77

New member
Got all my parts to do my axle bearing have a few questions before I tear it apart. How do I remove the inner axle seal and do I use a regular seal tool to install the new one? While I am in there I am going to service the rear end. How much fluid does it take? Thanks for your help
 
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I used a cheap seal remover from harbor freight, wrapped it with electrical tape to help me from gouging the housing. I then used a large socket or something similar to pound mine in. Luckly all I did was replace the seal and last I checked no leaks as of yet.
 
Like [MENTION=50342]JayRolla[/MENTION], I also used a cheap seal puller. But, I ended up breaking it. I finished pulling it with a long flat head screwdriver wrapped in electrical tape. I bought the seal and race driver set from Harbor Freight that worked great for install.

Use this link for info to help.
T4R Fluid Change
 
Make sure to buy OEM bearings. If you use aftermarket bearing (even koyo, or NTN) after inserting it into the shaft, you'll notice the bearing is tight and spins a bit hard.

Rear axle takes 2.7 quarts. Use 85-90 GL-5. I use Valvoline. Don't use any cheap brands specially for the rear axle.
 
Just clarifying, you realize that you need a press to do the rear bearings right? Just making sure as many of us here don't have access to a press. I just pulled my axle shaft out, took it to Toyota and had it back later that day with all new Toyota parts and ready to go another 150k miles.
 
I ended up going with the koyo bearings do you think it will be an issue? Anybody use this brand?

KOYO is the OE manufacturer of the bearing used. I bought a set off off Ebay (KOYO JAPAN Wheel Ball Bearing 1 REAR RW130R) which was EXACTLY the same as the OEM bearing. 20K one those bearings with no issues.
 
Just clarifying, you realize that you need a press to do the rear bearings right? Just making sure as many of us here don't have access to a press. I just pulled my axle shaft out, took it to Toyota and had it back later that day with all new Toyota parts and ready to go another 150k miles.

Yeah I got it all tore apart and dropping the axle off at the machine shop for them to do the press work.
 
Got all my parts to do my axle bearing have a few questions before I tear it apart. How do I remove the inner axle seal and do I use a regular seal tool to install the new one? While I am in there I am going to service the rear end. How much fluid does it take? Thanks for your help

I'm in the midst of this myself! I dropped my axle at the shop this morning for presswork and plan/hope to pick it up this afternoon.

As scary as it may sound, I was able to pull my axle seal with a regular old claw hammer. (/Listens for gasps from the crowd)

I placed the claw in and just behind the seal trying to keep the claw just barely over the edge of the seal (so as to not bottom out hard against the housing - Even so, the claw would be riding inside the seal, and not actually ON the housing). I put a rag behind the head of the hammer where it leveraged against the housing, and had a helper tap the hammer handle with a mallet. Took about 5 taps, moved the hammer around about 30deg, and two more taps sent the seal flying out. No scores, no scratches. :party:

I haven't installed the new seal yet, but I did pick up a loaner tool from Autozone last night for driving the new seal in place. It has about 8 or 10 different diameter 'plates' to match to the seal size. I had the seal with me, and I think at least one of the plates will work.


BTW - If you haven't already seen it, I found this YT video (series) to be pretty informative with regard to the whole process.

Pt 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBxMHNyOPxY
Pt 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp1-bXbkpW0
 
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Guys, make sure you do the grease test to verify the position of the inner retainer, which is what the seal rides on and is CRITICAL a proper repair.
Just smear a little grease on the inner retainer, and carefully insert the axle asy completely back into position. Might have to tighten down a couple nuts to get the asy completely on. Then remove the asy and look at the grease on the inner retainer hopefully half the retainer is clean. Probably have a couple mm tolerance in either direction from center of the retainer.
 
Stiff bearing

Make sure to buy OEM bearings. If you use aftermarket bearing (even koyo, or NTN) after inserting it into the shaft, you'll notice the bearing is tight and spins a bit hard.

Rear axle takes 2.7 quarts. Use 85-90 GL-5. I use Valvoline. Don't use any cheap brands specially for the rear axle.

I replaced my wheel bearing last month with a Koyo bearing that came pre-assembled to a hub assembly. Now my wheel seems really stiff when I jack up the front end and try to spin it. If I spin the whole wheel with my hands, it stops as soon as I let go. Is this bad?

CORRECTION/EDIT: This post refers to a front wheel bearing on a 4th Gen 4Runner
 
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I replaced my wheel bearing last month with a Koyo bearing that came pre-assembled to a hub assembly. Now my wheel seems really stiff when I jack up the front end and try to spin it. If I spin the whole wheel with my hands, it stops as soon as I let go. Is this bad?

3rd gens don't have hub style bearings. 4th gens and above do. It only comes as a separate bearing that needs to be pressed in and out. Curious what you bought. Also, this thread is about rear bearings and such, which could confuse someone reading it. Nonetheless, your wheel should spin freer than that.
 
3rd gens don't have hub style bearings. 4th gens and above do. It only comes as a separate bearing that needs to be pressed in and out. Curious what you bought. Also, this thread is about rear bearings and such, which could confuse someone reading it. Nonetheless, your wheel should spin freer than that.

Sorry... New to the site and still learning how it works. Didn't realize this thread was different than what I was talking about. I have a 4th Gen and replaced the front passenger bearing. I used a hub assembly from bluepitbearings.com. Not sure why it's so tight. On the flip side, my drivers side spins too freely in my opinion... Rotates a full 3 or so rotations after I stop spinning it. I still have a him so I need to decide whether the drivers side is bad or whether I screwed something up on the passenger side.
 
No worries. To answer your question the bearing might be a little tight but I'll bet it will get better as it gets some miles on it. Check it again after about a 1000 miles or before whatever warranty you have and see if it's better. As a side note, I usually replace things in pairs so I don't have any side to side issues. Also, if one side went bad, the other side can't be too far behind, unless that side incurred some sort of damage that the other side didn't then I would do one side. Of course, money is always an issue too.
 

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