She's taking a leak! Rear axle seal leak that is....

Im really glad you did this yourself. I keep telling people its not a hard job, but for some reason this repair job make people doubt their mechanical abilities before they even try it.

Good work
 
glad to hear it was only the bearing.


I know people say its a easy job, but living in new england with a 10+ year old truck nothing is easy . Everything is always rust and beat.

Ive been putting my rear seal off for a few weeks now.
This thread is motivational thanks fightman !
 
Thanks guys! Unfortunately, I did not do it myself....the guy in the pic, is my buddy. However, after seeing it done, I can actually say that the seal is easier to change than the brakes are! I you can do brakes, you can do this job!

Maxspeed, I know what you mean about rust. I have managed to keep it to a minimum by covering the entire undercarriage with oil and grease. Even the brake line came off easy, but the doofus that did the seal last, stripped the threads on the line, so we had to replace it. Once I cleaned off all the old salt, sand and grease of the line....it still had it's original grey paint coating on it! I know the pics look like there is a ton of rust, but alot of it is just grease covered with alot of dirt and sand! Everything I didn't coat with grease, (drums, and backing plates) are rusty....but the rest is pretty good!
 
Sorry to revive, but i will since i see fightman still actively posting.

Lol

How did you know your bearings are still good to go? Im looking to do my both of mine this coming week, even though only the rear driver is leaking slowly..
 
I had my originals replaced at just under 100k miles and 8 years and 80k miles later I got a leak on the driver's side and the brakes and drums were due to be replaced too so I did the whole shebang and got out the door for under $600.
Brakes Plus wanted $750 to just do the axle seals;the brakes and drums was another $350 but I got that quote for chuckles and grins and that got me quite a big laugh going. :jump:
 
when you go to get your seals make sure you dont get TIN ones like i did. they bent extremely easy and its hard to get them in nicely without leaking again. shop around and try to find ones that are made of a hard plastic. its so much easier to put them in that tin ones. (ask me how i know). axle seals arent exactly a project you want to do 3 days after you thought you fixed the problem.
 
I just did my passenger side bearing and seal and I had about 50 dollars in parts and about an hour and a half in time invested. The only tricky part is getting the abs ring off without damaging it. Caught it in time not to ruin the new shoes someone just put on it before i bought it. Takes time patience and the right tools.
 
The d@mn rear driver side seal is leaking again!! :( Should I replace the bearing?? Could the seal have blown because the bodyshop had used and seized my e-brake?? Don't want to spend more than I need too.... money is at a premium right now... and I'm trying to save up for a lift and tires for the Taco! :(
 
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The d@mn rear driver side seal is leaking again!! :( Should I replace the bearing?? Could the seal have blown because the bodyshop had used and seized my e-brake?? Don't want to spend more than I need too.... money is at a premium right now... and I'm trying to save up for a lift and tires for the Taco! :(

I posted the solution to this problem here on the forum. Its cheap and works. Flip the retainer around so the bevel points outward. This gives the seal more real estate to sit on. Use oem seals.
 
Thanks man... I'll give that a go when I get the parts in! Anybody else have any input as to why this would continue to happen so much?? The E-brake has been seized every time the seal goes.... can this be my issue?? I've since fixed my E-brake issue.... but didn't notice the seal was gone until recently....
 
This is intriguing. Posts with no text.

:noidea:

Bug in the server. I'll retype what I wrote before.

I noticed the old seal the OP pulled out has a green rubber edge. This is NOT an oem seal, so it indicates that the rear seal was done previously. Make sure you replace the seal with an OEM Toyota seal, there was a redesign of the lip surface. From experience, Ive used the green generic seal and ended up having to redo the whole thing right after.

Also check your differential breather because a clogged breather will also cause the seal to blow.
 
Bug in the server. I'll retype what I wrote before.

I noticed the old seal the OP pulled out has a green rubber edge. This is NOT an oem seal, so it indicates that the rear seal was done previously. Make sure you replace the seal with an OEM Toyota seal, there was a redesign of the lip surface. From experience, Ive used the green generic seal and ended up having to redo the whole thing right after.

Also check your differential breather because a clogged breather will also cause the seal to blow.

I'm picking up an OEM Seal and O-Ring tomorrow, and have already relocated my diff breather to my gas tank filler cap door.... :)

My question is.... what are the chances that my e-brake over heated my axle assembly, and made the seal fail???
 
Zero

The shoes may have overheated your drums and warped them but no chance the cooked brakes damaged the seal. The seal is inside the axle housing cooled by gear oil. You would have to set the truck on fire to damage the seal with heat.
 

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