Rear axle seal leak

[ARunner]

After getting a second whiff of differential fluid when taking my daughter out of the back seat I decided I better crawl underneath and see what was up. Looks like fluid is coating the back side of the hub and brake caliper. I called the dealer and they stated the service is around $800. They said typically it's not the seal inside the tube (which is what I would have assumed) but rather the seal around the axle itself. I'm looking for conventional wisdom on which seal typically is the one to fail, if there is a "norm". Pulling the axle to do the one inside I'm okay doing. In my reading here a press is required for changing the seal on the axle, and that is something I don't have access to. It may be worth noting that I have put redline synthetic in there within the past 1500-2000 miles which I think is the reason the seal is now leaking, as it likely had conventional up to that point.

 

[fdbyrne]

If the current setup is at all like my old Tacoma (and I think it is) then it's the seal that sits inside the axle tube. It's a donut shaped seal that the axle itself goes through. It's not pressed on to the axle, it's tapped into the axle housing with a seal pusher. It's not a hard thing to do, but you need to find out why it happened to prevent it from happening again. It's usually a clogged breather or a bad wheel bearing that causes the seal to fail.

If somebody that's worked on a newer one tells me that it's changed since I've done it and I'm wrong, my feelings won't be hurt.

 

[ARunner]

Yes I have replaced a seal like that on a third generation 4Runner. But I don't know if that is the typical culprit in the 4th or if there's a high likelihood Id be wasting my time.