Rear Axle Seal Job?

[Usafwolfe]

I took my 2005 Runner to a dealer for an oil change and they noticed a small leak in the passenger side rear axle. They quoted me a repair cost of about $400. I didn't get it done at that time because of a business trip.

Took it to a different dealer yesterday near my new location and they quoted me $785 to do the same exact job!

How much should this repair really cost on average? Is this something I could do myself? I would consider myself a moderately skilled shade tree mechanic.

 

[aha2988]

I took my 2005 Runner to a dealer for an oil change and they noticed a small leak in the passenger side rear axle. They quoted me a repair cost of about $400. I didn't get it done at that time because of a business trip.

Took it to a different dealer yesterday near my new location and they quoted me $785 to do the same exact job!

How much should this repair really cost on average? Is this something I could do myself? I would consider myself a moderately skilled shade tree mechanic.

I'm not sure how much it should cost but it is a PIA job to do. you have to pull the rear axles out to get to the seal, disconnecting the emergency brake cable from the parking brake assembly becomes the hardest part. other than that it's just removing the caliper disconnecting the brake line to the caliper removing the 4 nuts that hold the hub assembly on, disconnecting the wheel speed sensor, then the axle, parking brake assembly and hub bearing all come out as one piece. Replace the seal then reinstall, the catch is that the axle seal, seals on a retainer collar just behind the hub bearing. The collar itself can become warn and a new seal won't seal it up. There for your option becomes cutting off the old retaining collar (its press fit into place) then pressing on a new one, or pulling the hub bearing/parking brake assembly, replacing the hub bearing and the retaining collar at the same time.

its a pain in the ass for sure.

 

[Mikwalz]

My drivers side started leaking around 93k, took it to the dealer and they did the job for about 209.54 Because I am still under my certified Toyota warranty, it was covered all but the $50 deductible.

Looks like they billed me for
Labor: 1.41 hrs at $90/hr= $127.50
Seal part # 90310-58003: $8
75w140 gear oil part # 00289-75140: 3units at 24.68= $74.04

From what aha2988 says about the job, it seems it should have taken them longer that 1.41 hours to complete the job. It seems to me that i may have other components that needed to be checked and possibly replaced, but I wasn't aware of that at the time. I plan on taking it in again and having them do a once over the drive train before my warranty is up, to have it inspected and to mention what aha said.

 

[Usafwolfe]

Thanks for the info Aha! The weather is finally nice enough here so I'm going to pull the wheel off and dig a little deeper into it this weekend. Hopefully it is just the seal and nothing else will need replacing.

 

[Usafwolfe]

Has anyone done this themselves? I ordered the parts and have a lift reserved for two days next week.

I am a little concerned because I took it to a local shop and they said they ordered parts per my VIN and when they got the seal it looked too small. They never actually took the old seal out so I'm wondering if the seal covers up a taper in the axle housing that they couldn't see. They are a very small shop and didn't want to have my 4Runner taking up a lift for a week so they could find the right part. I almost think the shop has so much business from the locals that they didn't have time for me being a relatively new military guy in the area.

I ordered the same part # that Mikwalz listed a couple posts above. I don't know how I could have a different axle housing than normal.

I'm sure I can do the job if the parts fit right, but what do I do if the seal doesn't fit? Looking for some advice here.

 

[aha2988]

Has anyone done this themselves? I ordered the parts and have a lift reserved for two days next week.

I am a little concerned because I took it to a local shop and they said they ordered parts per my VIN and when they got the seal it looked too small. They never actually took the old seal out so I'm wondering if the seal covers up a taper in the axle housing that they couldn't see. They are a very small shop and didn't want to have my 4Runner taking up a lift for a week so they could find the right part. I almost think the shop has so much business from the locals that they didn't have time for me being a relatively new military guy in the area.

I ordered the same part # that Mikwalz listed a couple posts above. I don't know how I could have a different axle housing than normal.

I'm sure I can do the job if the parts fit right, but what do I do if the seal doesn't fit? Looking for some advice here.

If the shop never took the old seal out did they even look at it to see if the seals were different. As in did they actually pull the hubs and look?

SEAL, OIL (FOR REAR AXLE SHAFT LH); SEAL, OIL (FOR REAR AXLE SHAFT RH). 2004 TOYOTA 4Runner # 9031058003

That is a link to order a Factory seal for your rear axle. If the new seal doesn't fit then your truck will be out of commission until you can put a new seal in that is a proper fit. As you can't really drive it with a leaking axle.

 

[WXman]

Depends on how bad it's leaking. I've seen trucks before where it's just enough to keep the backing plates wet. If that's the case you can go thousands of miles with no harm. But if it's dripping and running out of the axle then obviously you need to get that repaired
ASAP.

 

[Usafwolfe]

Aha, yep that is the part number I ordered. And I ordered three of them just incase I jack up the first one on my initial attempt to get it in.

WXman, it is just a really slow leak. I could probably go awhile on it, but I have the time off next week and a place to work on it so I am going to try and do it myself.

Can't wait to get this done so I can move on to lifting it and getting new tires.

 

[Usafwolfe]

Well I did the job myself today. The toughest part was getting the parking break assembly put back together. Lots of springs in tight spaces tried my patience! Took me a total of 5 hours at a cost of about $8.00 for parts and $17.50 to rent the lift and buy a bottle of break fluid from the auto hobby shop. Totally worth taking the day of and doing it myself to save about $350!

 

[aha2988]

Well I did the job myself today. The toughest part was getting the parking break assembly put back together. Lots of springs in tight spaces tried my patience! Took me a total of 5 hours at a cost of about $8.00 for parts and $17.50 to rent the lift and buy a bottle of break fluid from the auto hobby shop. Totally worth taking the day of and doing it myself to save about $350!

sounds about right, an hour for changing the seals out then 4 more putting the stupid ebrake assembly back together and getting the retaining springs back on.


I've found that you don't have to take the retaining springs off you can just undo every other spring on the parking brake assembly. Then just move the shoes around as needed to get to the parking brake cable bolts as well as unhook it from the other shoe. Then just leave the shoes on the backing plate as you pull the axle out.

It doesn't make the brake cable any easier to get to but it saves you the hassle of messing with your retainer clips and springs.