Rear Axle Seals: The Ultimate Information and Replacement Thread (3rd gen)

[shoota]

Mine fixed itself. Check the rear diff and see how low it is. If it's low, refill it and wait.

Get outta town! Seriously?!? It's my experience that issues don't fix themselves.

Well 2 things can happen: your rear brakes may fail due to all the oil leakage onto the drum/hardware and your rear diff will run low on oil and cause premature wear to your gears/differential.

If you have a tundra brake upgrade, the 1st issue may not be a huge concern. As for the diff running low, just keep refilling it. Not sure what affect the oil has on the wheel bearing though.

I'm not recommending EITHER of these as both are dangerous situations.

I will check (as soon as I figure out how) but yeah I'm sure it's not helping the braking back there. I haven't noticed a big decrease in braking performance yet so I guess that is a good thing.

 

[kissmybass]

Shoota, you can also try REGULAR fluid if you have synthetic in there. The synthetic sometimes goes past the seals.

A quick way to check is to take off the rear wheel, take off the ABS sensor (10mm bolt + flathead under the slit) and check the abs sensor. If it's covered in gear oil, you know you got an issue. It should be bone dry. The ABS sensor is aluminum looking color. Another way is to take off the drum, if its SOAKED in oil, you got a leak lol. The drum might be faster and tell you that your brakes will soon fail back there but I know some might not come off so easily.

 

[TheDurk]

Shoota, you can also try REGULAR fluid if you have synthetic in there. The synthetic sometimes goes past the seals.

A quick way to check is to take off the rear wheel, take off the ABS sensor (10mm bolt + flathead under the slit) and check the abs sensor. If it's covered in gear oil, you know you got an issue. It should be bone dry. The ABS sensor is aluminum looking color. Another way is to take off the drum, if its SOAKED in oil, you got a leak lol. The drum might be faster and tell you that your brakes will soon fail back there but I know some might not come off so easily.

Be aware that sensor may not want to come out after so many years, it is plastic, and real expensive to replace. Proceed with due caution.

I HAD to pull mine when I did my frame swap and it was a major pain. First time they had been touched in 17 years. My drums are a breeze because I love anti-seize and I know how to back off the shoes.

 

[shoota]

Shoota, you can also try REGULAR fluid if you have synthetic in there. The synthetic sometimes goes past the seals.

A quick way to check is to take off the rear wheel, take off the ABS sensor (10mm bolt + flathead under the slit) and check the abs sensor. If it's covered in gear oil, you know you got an issue. It should be bone dry. The ABS sensor is aluminum looking color. Another way is to take off the drum, if its SOAKED in oil, you got a leak lol. The drum might be faster and tell you that your brakes will soon fail back there but I know some might not come off so easily.

Thanks for the additional info. I guess I have my Saturday planned out for me :/

 

[ZionXIX]

In my sleep deprived state I had a thought about leaking rear axles. Has anyone ever tried to leave "score" marks on the axle as reference for the parts that need to be pressed on. You could use a sharp tool or a pipe cutter just to make the slight indentation into the surface of the metal. This way any future replacement would be simple since the guidelines are literally etched into the metal. Just a random thought.

 

[Gorge4R]

I just purchased a 97 4runner with 212k miles on it. Rear seal on passenger side is leaking bad. I am going to replace drums/brakes and seals. Is it recommended to do bearings as well? Had it up on the lift and didn't seem to have too much play.

TIA

Ian

 

[pluton]

Yes, usually the bearings have had gear oil washed through them if the there is a substantial amount of gear oil at the rear wheel/brake area. If the bearings could magically have a constant, dependable wash of gear oil running through them they'd probably last a long time. But...that's not how it was designed. You'd probably have to overfill the rear axle oil to get the bearing to be constantly immersed, and then what happens when you drive or park on a sidehill? Some have claimed to save the bearings by repacking them with grease. This is credible, to me, if the leak had just started, but if it's been leaking a long time the bearing life is probably compromised.
Note: Worn out/damaged bearings will precipitate another rear axle seal failure.

 

[JZiggy]

Anyone ever run across these diagrams before about rear axle seal placement? The look spot-on to me.

Rear Axle Diagrams for ABS & Non-ABS Toyota 4x4's | RoughTrax 4x4

 

[seanohue]

My seals are gone in my 98. Anyone around Denver/Boulder that has a recommendation on a shop to either do the whole job or just the press-in parts?

 

[kissmybass]

hey guys, I noticed my rear driver side was leaking again today after my repair. Passenger side is still dry .

I'm going to examine it some more but I imagine it might be the wheel cylinder and not the inner seals. The wheel isn't wet at all but the wheel drum is somewhat caked (not as bad as before!).

You might want to examine that before you go ripping apart the entire axle assembly! A good place to check is the ABS sensor or your diff fluid level!

 

[Co4Fun]

My seals are gone in my 98. Anyone around Denver/Boulder that has a recommendation on a shop to either do the whole job or just the press-in parts?

ATLR in Wheat Ridge for either.

 

[seanohue]

ATLR in Wheat Ridge for either.

Thanks, I will give them a call.

 

[kissmybass]

well folks.... i re-did my oil seal today on rear driver. It turns out, the seal was pushed back perhaps too far (1-2mm as described by others). The new seal wasn't mating with the race and I verified that with the grease test. It was barely riding on the "lip" of the beveled edge. I also cleaned the flange surface as there was a lot of "crud" on there that could result in it being too far out.

For the new seal, I didn't drive it completely in like the last one but it's definitely sealing and in there a good amount (98% compared to before). The new grease test yielded better results (half way on the race). Time will tell if this fixed my issue.

The passenger side is fine though, but that might be just pure luck that the machine shop was 1mm off when they put on the 2nd race.

 

[amwxx1]

Nice write up. This really saved me a lot of trouble. I used the parts list provided and pulled the axle out myself. Only cost me 50 bucks at our local machine shop to have the bearing/abs ring pressed on and the new one on. The thing that took the longest was cleaning everything! My brakes were caked, next time it will go much faster when I do the other side. I'm just hoping they measured twice and pressed once! Thanks! I forgot to measure it myself before I brought it in.

 

[mtbtim]

Nice write up. This really saved me a lot of trouble. I used the parts list provided and pulled the axle out myself. Only cost me 50 bucks at our local machine shop to have the bearing/abs ring pressed on and the new one on. The thing that took the longest was cleaning everything! My brakes were caked, next time it will go much faster when I do the other side. I'm just hoping they measured twice and pressed once! Thanks! I forgot to measure it myself before I brought it in.

I'm always amazed when people quote, "Only cost me $50 at the local machine shop." Machine shops in the California Bay Area want quite a bit more. Just out of curiosity I asked a local machine shop what they would charge to do the press work for a set of axles and they wanted over $200. So it's double the cost in my neck of the woods.

I've got my own press and have done a couple sets of axles now. It's not a hard job, just a little time consuming.

 

[kissmybass]

Tim (toolman!). Thanks for all the great vids and waiting on your axel seal one. Just had to redo mine, (I know I should have done a video). My 2 young kids prevent me from doing anything .

Here in Fresno,CA, just south of you, It cost me $60-$80 per side (can't remember). I was amazed by the price. They seemed to have done a great job too. They even told me i didn't need to buy a new ABS ring/retainers. They had a way to get it all off without destroying it.

-Minh

 

[mtbtim]

Tim (toolman!). Thanks for all the great vids and waiting on your axel seal one. Just had to redo mine, (I know I should have done a video). My 2 young kids prevent me from doing anything .

Here in Fresno,CA, just south of you, It cost me $60-$80 per side (can't remember). I was amazed by the price. They seemed to have done a great job too. They even told me i didn't need to buy a new ABS ring/retainers. They had a way to get it all off without destroying it.

-Minh

Yeah, for an ABS axle, you can absolutely save the ABS ring and the outer retainer. I don't know if I'd reuse the inner retainer because the lip of the seal wears on the polished surface and creates a witness mark. The outer retainer just butts against the bearing and holds it in place along with the c-clip so that one you can definitely reuse because it doesn't seal with anything.

You use whatever special axle too you own and connect a bearing splitter to it. Then you have to knock the studs out of the way to make room to get the bearing splitter under the ABS ring. Then you just pull it off with the press. With the right tools, it's not hard.

 

[nobb]

Yeah, for an ABS axle, you can absolutely save the ABS ring and the outer retainer. I don't know if I'd reuse the inner retainer because the lip of the seal wears on the polished surface and creates a witness mark. The outer retainer just butts against the bearing and holds it in place along with the c-clip so that one you can definitely reuse because it doesn't seal with anything.

Swap the inner retainer with the outer retainer. As a trick, an adjustable bearing splitter can be used in tandem with the puller tool to yank out the ABS ring and both retainers without having to cut anything off.

IMO, it is improper to be using a grinder to cut off these retainers. It just risks nicking the axle, which now becomes a weak spot for stress fractures to develop.

 

[mtbtim]

Swap the inner retainer with the outer retainer. As a trick, an adjustable bearing splitter can be used in tandem with the puller tool to yank out the ABS ring and both retainers without having to cut anything off.

IMO, it is improper to be using a grinder to cut off these retainers. It just risks nicking the axle, which now becomes a weak spot for stress fractures to develop.

Swapping the retainers is smart. The one ABS axle seal job I did, the guy opted to buy all new parts.

Using the bearing splitter with the axle tool is the way I did it too.

 

[gamefreakgc]

I'm always amazed when people quote, "Only cost me $50 at the local machine shop." Machine shops in the California Bay Area want quite a bit more. Just out of curiosity I asked a local machine shop what they would charge to do the press work for a set of axles and they wanted over $200. So it's double the cost in my neck of the woods.

I've got my own press and have done a couple sets of axles now. It's not a hard job, just a little time consuming.

Everything is more expensive in the Bay Area. That's why I don't live there anymore.

$65 at Napa around here. Had to do this job twice in the last 2 years but should be good now.