You didn't have to press the wheel bearing onto the axle shaft?
Rear Axle Seals: The Ultimate Information and Replacement Thread (3rd gen)
- Thread starter BigFishAllDay
- Start date
No i mean when putting the bearing into the disc plate (hub, whatever it's called) it slides in fairly easily. So easy that when you place this OVER the axel shaft to then stack the retainer on, the bearing just comes right out. So when you're pressing it, it'll quickly drop in then the friction begins when the retainer ring starts to push on the axle shaft. I have no idea if it's the different bearing vs the earlier 3rd gen for a different spec or if somehow my hub was just sized differently but both sides went in easy. I just put the bearing over the hole, dropped the old bearing onto it from like 6 inches and bam it fell right in. super easy. Just saying I actually preferred if it was fit better so when you invert it for the press it wouldn't just fall right back out.
yeah that would be bad lol. And definitely do a sharpie test, not as messy as grease and just as effective. Seems 5mm is about midline on the retainer, but 4mm ain't shabby either. I even did 6mm on one just to see and it's still fairly midline. of course it depends how well you tap the oil seal in too. I think I used the 72mm race driver.
Dial4toRun
New member
if my rear axle seal is leaking, much more after top off, do i need to change bearing as well?
Mudeprived
New member
I didn't. I was able to pry off the side caps of the bearing with a pick, flush out the oil, then use a syringe to refill the bearing with synthetic bearing grease. So far so good but it will probably fail tomorrow now that I said that. :wacko:
just re-did the seal yesterday and noticed two things...the seal was not riding on the middle of the retainer ring, closer to 1/3 from the edge. it passed the sharpie test during initial installation so real life conditions somehow made it move
Also I usually had used vice grips in the past to get the old seal out and people always struggle with seal pullers. I even ordered a new Lisle to help with this, but it was too big and useless. Then I though, why not use my nail puller? I pulled it out with four quick gentle prying motions, no damage needed to the seal.
Nail Puller
Mine is a million years old and a different brand but it looks like that. the sloped part slips perfectly behind the seal and the retaining metal part of the axle housing and it's SO EASY! Just a tip.
I put cheap oil I had on hand to test it for a few weeks as I didn't want to throw my AMSOIL in there just to have to re-do the pressing later. If it was riding close to the "inner" edge of the retainer, does that mean it was pushed too far on the press, or not far enough?
Also I usually had used vice grips in the past to get the old seal out and people always struggle with seal pullers. I even ordered a new Lisle to help with this, but it was too big and useless. Then I though, why not use my nail puller? I pulled it out with four quick gentle prying motions, no damage needed to the seal.
Nail Puller
Mine is a million years old and a different brand but it looks like that. the sloped part slips perfectly behind the seal and the retaining metal part of the axle housing and it's SO EASY! Just a tip.
I put cheap oil I had on hand to test it for a few weeks as I didn't want to throw my AMSOIL in there just to have to re-do the pressing later. If it was riding close to the "inner" edge of the retainer, does that mean it was pushed too far on the press, or not far enough?
Kanoe
New member
If the sharpie test shows the seal to be riding near the inner edge of the retainer it means the retainer was pushed on too far. Needs to be pulled back up a touch. Did you do the DrCoffee flip of the inner retainer to buy you some extra wiggle room?
yes I flipped the retainer. The sharpie was solid, right in the middle. This was done about 1 year ago. It only started leaking after hunting the other weekend. So maybe it shifted from rough roads or something. But I noticed the wear ring on the retainer was not in the middle like the sharpie test showed, it was near the edge. If the retainer is ay 10mm wide, and I wanted it right on the 5mm mark, it was on like 7mm.
Aaaaaaand it failed again. Mechanic said the only thing I haven't replaced is the Axle and maybe that's what's causing it to fail only 3 and a half years after having a top-notch pro do it for me?
Any ideas of why this seems to never last more than a few years? I promise I'm not beating on it. I'm about sick of this GD truck which only has a 220K on the clock and I was planning on driving forever but am losing faith in. Convert to disk and be done with it? That doesn't seem to be a straightforward issue. If I could just buy a damn kit and do it I would, but this off-and-on, fixed-and-broken shit is getting me down. Pretty sure the new silver truck has the same damn issue, so I've got that to look forward to.
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anderson14k
New member
fix just one side?
First time visitor to this site and appreciate all the great info. My driver side has a seal leak, but the passenger side doesn't. Does it make sense to fix only the driver side or does the seal failure of the driver side mean that the passenger side is likely to go soon as well.
I'd appreciate any advice!
First time visitor to this site and appreciate all the great info. My driver side has a seal leak, but the passenger side doesn't. Does it make sense to fix only the driver side or does the seal failure of the driver side mean that the passenger side is likely to go soon as well.
I'd appreciate any advice!
poleclimber63
Member
If the diff breather was plugged, that can allow pressure to build and make the seal or seals to leak. Extending the diff breather is a common mod.. My seals failed 8 years ago, and I had my mechanic use Toyota seals --I didn't replace the bearings-- just the seals and diff breather... 8 years and 150k later...
If your diff breather isn't clogged then you can try doing just one side, but the other side might fail soon or it could last years. If you are replacing the seal yourself then I would go ahead and do both sides. Depending on how bad your leak is you might want to consider replacing the wheel bearing as well. Too much gear oil leaking past the seal will wash all the grease out of the wheel bearing.
EDIT: Common causes of the seal failing is wheel bearing failure and rear diff breather clogged.
Rushthezeppelin
New member
So just to be sure for this job, the gear oil level is high enough in the diff to where you will lose some doing this job? I'm going to tackle this on both sides on Monday and my diff is already topped off with new oil by the PO (I double checked the level yesterday and it's at the threads of the fill hole). I want to know if I need to get some more to top things off as some spills out once you remove the old seals or if most people are low enough from the leak to need to top off.
Devbot
New member
Welp, now I'm in the club! Found my drums splattered with gear oil this morning. Since my time is limited and my bearings aren't howling yet I'm gonna try to get away with buying the tool, flipping the retainer and replacing the seal only... and my fairly new brake shoes :smashputer: I figure worst case scenario the bearings start going bad eventually, and I already have the tool/experience to deal with it then
I know this is a year old post and you've probably been informed, but are you aware a forum member here does produce a rear disc conversion kit? It's pretty dang simple believe it or not, I've been wanting to snag one for a while now but just haven't gotten to it
I know this is a year old post and you've probably been informed, but are you aware a forum member here does produce a rear disc conversion kit? It's pretty dang simple believe it or not, I've been wanting to snag one for a while now but just haven't gotten to it
mtbtim
Elite Member
I suggest you take it one step further and pry up the bearing cover so you can repack the bearing with a quality high temp bearing grease. These "sealed" bearings aren't permanently sealed. The inside cover can be pried up with a small fine tip flat blade screwdriver.
The reason why I suggest this, is the gear oil has washed out some or all of the grease out of the bearing. The bearing might very well have been relying on the gear oil for proper lubrication. Once you replace the seal and fix the gear oil leak, now your bearing isn't receiving the gear oil for lubrication. You might find out the hard way when you take a long road trip at highway speeds. The bearing will overheat and fail in a most dramatic way ruining the axle and leaving you stranded.
Your smartest move is to do the whole job which would include replacing the bearings. But, if you want to try just the seal replacements, a highly recommend you repack the bearings with grease.
