Rear Axle Seal Questions

[econhonda]

I replaced my passenger rear axle seal on Monday night this week. Yesterday it started leaking again. These are my questions.

Is it possible that the outer seal could be bad, but not the wheel bearing? I don't detect any play when the axle shaft until I pull the shaft out and rest it on the ground. Then I can see a tiny tiny bit of play in the bearing when I move the shaft around. This seemed normal to me. Am I wrong? There is absolutely no movement when the shaft is in the axle housing.

I think I know why I may be leaking again. When I was installing the axle back into the housing, I had some trouble getting it to seat properly and once let it rest on the seal. I pulled it back out and checked the seal. It seemed fine, but I've recently read that you can't let it do that. I'll probably give it another shot tonight.

Last question, is synthetic diff fluid the way to go? Could this be causing my axle seal issues? Thinking about ditching the redline and going to some dyno stuff....

Thanks everyone!

 

[Singtoe]

The bearing when new still has some wobble to it so you should be fine, especially if there is no play when mounted in the housing.

If the bearing spins nicely, and has no noise, then it is fine but depending on how much oil leaked through it. It could have washed the grease out. If this is the case, the bearing won't last long - even with traces of synthetic gear oil in it.

You might be able to pull the inner dust shield off, and force fresh grease in the bearing. Since it is on the inside part of the bearing, it is protected from the elements.

As far as the leak. If the seal was twisted or cockeyed during installation, it could have egged out slightly causing the leak that you have. Or the spring inside fell off and not compressing the sealing lips. Buy a new seal and replace.

 

[econhonda]

The bearing when new still has some wobble to it so you should be fine, especially if there is no play when mounted in the housing.

If the bearing spins nicely, and has no noise, then it is fine but depending on how much oil leaked through it. It could have washed the grease out. If this is the case, the bearing won't last long - even with traces of synthetic gear oil in it.

You might be able to pull the inner dust shield off, and force fresh grease in the bearing. Since it is on the inside part of the bearing, it is protected from the elements.

As far as the leak. If the seal was twisted or cockeyed during installation, it could have egged out slightly causing the leak that you have. Or the spring inside fell off and not compressing the sealing lips. Buy a new seal and replace.

Thanks Singtoe, this is not the first time you've responded to my questions. I appreciate your help.

I did notice that there were some small traces of darker grease on the wheel bearing. It was noticeable since the gear oil is new and very light colored. I assume this is what you were referring to when you said the synthetic gear oil will kill the bearing in time if it gets inside. For now I think I'll just replace my seal one more time and hope for the best since it's only like a $20 fix.

The bearing still spins perfectly with no noise or resistance.

Hopefully a new seal does the trick. Thanks again.

 

[rickashay]

I would try the above methods first, but if the problem persists it could be a bent axle shaft. As you can imagine that a slight bend or wobble in your axle shaft will elongate the "round" axle seal -> causing a leak.

My buddy just had this issue with his Tundra and after chasing the problem and replacing axle seals 3 times on one side and doing new bearings etc, it ended up being the axle shaft.

 

[Charlee78]

Make sure the sleeve that sits on the axle itself is centered with the axle seal when fully assembled, sometimes this sleeve moves and the center part of the seal dosen't sit on anything...