WrenchTech
New member
Shortly after I bought this 4runner a year ago I thought the brakes were kind of weak. I should have known that gear oil leaking onto the rear brake shoes was the likely cause. Instead, it took seeing some oil on the inside face of the back wheels to alert me to what was actually happening. I have a press and have done axle bearing work before, so I prepared to do the job. I knew that my 4runner had ABS and that that would add some extra steps. So I looked to YouTube to find a video detailing the work. That’s when I found the excellent Timmy the Toolman series on 3rd gen 4runner repairs and his comprehensive treatment of the axle bearing job. Armed with this good information I tore into the job.
The first problem I encountered was that the bearings had been previously worked on by somebody who, let us say, was not the most conscientious mechanic and not somebody that we would hope to see doing such work. I found that the ABS gears/tone rings were pressed on so far that I could not get a tool on them to to pull them off.
This would also explain why the axle was leaking so much gear oil. The inner axle seals are designed to work with the lock ring. The lock ring is installed so that the lip of the seal rides on the smooth outer surface of the lock ring. If these two pieces are not properly aligned there will be nothing to stop the oil from spilling out. These were so far out of alignment that they weren’t even touching.
I ended up having to remove the ABS gear and the lock ring by grinding them to the point where they were thin enough to crack with a cold chisel. On my first attempt I ground too deep and nicked the axle. By the time I got to the second axle I had figured out a technique to do the job quickly and without damage to the axle shaft. After I got the ABS gear off I could see that someone else had also cut into the axle shafts with what looked like a thin grinding wheel like you would find on a Dremel tool.
At that point I had two damaged axles and two destroyed ABS gears. I ended up buying two used axles from a nearby wrecking yard which came with the ABS gears that I would need. I got them home and began the press work. My homemade axle puller press tool combined with an ABS ring adapter tool, that I purchased for this job, got me through the disassembly work. Now I am having to figure out how I’m going to press the new parts back on. This axle is big enough that it only fits in one direction in the press, and so the technique that I used in the past won’t work. It is just a matter of coming up with right size section of tube so that I can flip the axle so that the flange faces up and the parts get pressed on from below. I’m sure that’s hard to visualize or make sense of from reading what I have written here. I will try to get some pictures to explain better.
This is a picture of the adapter, the red thing, being used with my homemade tool, to pull the ABS gear off.
Here I have just pressed the axle out of the backing plate, which is very rusty and will not be reused.
The first problem I encountered was that the bearings had been previously worked on by somebody who, let us say, was not the most conscientious mechanic and not somebody that we would hope to see doing such work. I found that the ABS gears/tone rings were pressed on so far that I could not get a tool on them to to pull them off.
This would also explain why the axle was leaking so much gear oil. The inner axle seals are designed to work with the lock ring. The lock ring is installed so that the lip of the seal rides on the smooth outer surface of the lock ring. If these two pieces are not properly aligned there will be nothing to stop the oil from spilling out. These were so far out of alignment that they weren’t even touching.
I ended up having to remove the ABS gear and the lock ring by grinding them to the point where they were thin enough to crack with a cold chisel. On my first attempt I ground too deep and nicked the axle. By the time I got to the second axle I had figured out a technique to do the job quickly and without damage to the axle shaft. After I got the ABS gear off I could see that someone else had also cut into the axle shafts with what looked like a thin grinding wheel like you would find on a Dremel tool.
At that point I had two damaged axles and two destroyed ABS gears. I ended up buying two used axles from a nearby wrecking yard which came with the ABS gears that I would need. I got them home and began the press work. My homemade axle puller press tool combined with an ABS ring adapter tool, that I purchased for this job, got me through the disassembly work. Now I am having to figure out how I’m going to press the new parts back on. This axle is big enough that it only fits in one direction in the press, and so the technique that I used in the past won’t work. It is just a matter of coming up with right size section of tube so that I can flip the axle so that the flange faces up and the parts get pressed on from below. I’m sure that’s hard to visualize or make sense of from reading what I have written here. I will try to get some pictures to explain better.
This is a picture of the adapter, the red thing, being used with my homemade tool, to pull the ABS gear off.
Here I have just pressed the axle out of the backing plate, which is very rusty and will not be reused.
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