Rear axle seal rant

Mr. Leary

Mr. Leary

New member
Okay, so I just re-installed my thirds (new gears from Baertrax), along with new bearings and seals. The gears are breaking in well and I love having the power back. However, my old enemy has returned to haunt me...

Rant on

This is my 5th set of rear axle seals in this ****ing truck in the last two years. Hell, it feels like I have to put new seals in the damn thing every ****ing time I drive it. This is bull****. What the **** am I doing wrong?

Breather is extended, no issue there. Brand new bearings, etc. installed just how they are supposed to be.

Am I missing something?

Rear seals are a finky part on these trucks, but if I have to put one more set of seals into this ****ing truck, I'm gonna switch to another platform. I'm tired of this crap.

4Runner:gun5:
 
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check your bearings

edit just saw you have new bearings. are you using a seal driver with a really heavy hammer? When i did mine, i used a 25lb dumbell with my arm as a pendulum and swung it at a cheapo HF seal driver kit. Worked perfect. when in strait with one hit.

Ive also heard there is a older seal and newer seal model and never one is much better. I have also heard that some after market seals are bad. Not sure what you have used but m understanding on this partiular part OEM is the best and napa is a very close 2nd. I personally have the napa seals and 2 yrs so far so good.

Just thinking out loud cuz it seems like you have covered all your bases.
 
Last edited:
twitchee2 said:
check your bearings

edit just saw you have new bearings. are you using a seal driver with a really heavy hammer? When i did mine, i used a 25lb dumbell with my arm as a pendulum and swung it at a cheapo HF seal driver kit. Worked perfect. when in strait with one hit.

Ive also heard there is a older seal and newer seal model and never one is much better. I have also heard that some after market seals are bad. Not sure what you have used but m understanding on this partiular part OEM is the best and napa is a very close 2nd. I personally have the napa seals and 2 yrs so far so good.

Just thinking out loud cuz it seems like you have covered all your bases.
Click to expand...

Seal driver kit with 5lb. Rubber sledge. These seals are from oreilys.
 
oh another issue that ive had, when i was first learning to drive in my old 96 4unner, the dealer installed something wrong on the axle shaft and the sealing surface never actually made contact with the seal. Something was pressed to far or not enough, dont remember which. But it also caused leaking right after everything was just replaced.
 
i need to do mine as well, luckily it's just a slow slow leak and not a major blow out, i'm not going to do this myself, i'm taking it into a shop as with the abs ring and no real way of setting the seal depth i'd rather just not fool with it....

amrite in understanding that that seal gets knocked 20mm or so down but there is no lip or anything for it to sit on? it would seem keeping the seal level would bee hard with out some sort of edge for it to sit on, or i could be thinking of the front diff, lol...either way i hear nightmares as well and am not looking forward to this.....you want to do mine for me leary? i bet your turning into a pro!
 
Just redid mine. One week later one is leaking and one isn't. Time for some more viscous oil.
 
Marlin Crawler does sell axle seals, but ones to be used with NON ABS axles only.

When I drove my axles seals in, I left a space a little bigger than the gap for the dual electrode spark plugs. Two+ years later and no leak. As the YT OP states, check how the seal fits and go from there. Not enough R&D on Toyota's part IMHO.
 
Are you fully seating the inner most retainer on the axle? If you are, that's your issue. Quick way to check is pull the shaft out of the housing and apply a bit of grease to the retainer. Then reinstall the axle into the housing just so it seats fully, pull it back out and you'll be able to see where your seal is contacting the retainer. The seal should contact as close to the center of the retainer as possible. This is very common, there's actually a measurement in the repair manual as to where to place the retainer on the shaft.
 
I'm assuming you checked this but how are your axles? I've had front axles (and a rear axle too in an Explorer rear) that had a wear ring around them right where the seal meets the metal. They will leak like crazy if there's a ring on the axle.
 
toyotechwv said:
Are you fully seating the inner most retainer on the axle? If you are, that's your issue. Quick way to check is pull the shaft out of the housing and apply a bit of grease to the retainer. Then reinstall the axle into the housing just so it seats fully, pull it back out and you'll be able to see where your seal is contacting the retainer. The seal should contact as close to the center of the retainer as possible. This is very common, there's actually a measurement in the repair manual as to where to place the retainer on the shaft.
Click to expand...

THIS!!!

A forum member on this site changed his left rear axle seals MANY times and it leaked many times afterwards. He brought his truck to me and his bearing retainer ring wasn't even contacting the axle seal. If any of you have an on-going seal problem. Check that first!
 
I have gone through two sets of seals but the most recent set has lasted 80,000 miles (knock on wood). Anyways after the 2nd failure I had the axel housing measured with a micrometer just to check it was still in spec. The shop said it was and that the 1st shop probably did a bad job.

5x is ridiculous. that sucks man.

:fishing:
 
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