Myrunr2010
New member
Yeah that's what they did. They just assumed that it all pushed together tight. They didn't realize that the outer retainer ring was the sealing surface and needed to be in a specific location.
She's taking a leak! Rear axle seal leak that is....
- Thread starter fightman80
- Start date
Yeah that's what they did. They just assumed that it all pushed together tight. They didn't realize that the outer retainer ring was the sealing surface and needed to be in a specific location.
Myrunr2010
New member
So after the shop pressed everything on too far....again, i've managed to get what i've got in the picture. I used a bearing separator to get the retraining ring to come back out some in order to provide the proper seal, but there isn't the space to get the separator in there to get the abs ring back off. Is it wrong to leave a gap between the ABS ring and the retainer ring, i know it may affect my ABS, and could subsequently always have an ABS light on, but will it affect anything else?
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JRZEE2000TR4LTD
Senior Member
That retainer has to be out too far. Check out these threads for some pretty good pics and info
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...on-replacement-thread-3rd-gen.html#post571040
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...-solution-leaking-axle-seals.html#post1060244
I used dr coffee's method because I just thought that outer ring bevel was just too close to the sealing edge of the seal. Plus, with the angle of the new seal, that bevel to ease the seal into place seamed unnecessary. Dr coffee's grease test looked exactly like mine. As you can see from all of the pics, none of them show the distance, in your configuration, between the ABS exciter ring and the sealing retainer. That ring should be fully on the "shiny" part of the axle with 4-5mm on top.
Myrunr2010
New member
Sorry for the massively delayed response, I got caught up doing the timing belt and valve cover gaskets and forgot to respond. I tried to put the axle in with what I had and the retainer made contact with the inner portion of the axle tube. There was 4 mm between the axle and the axle tube before it was seated all the way, so I adjusted the retainer 5mm and it went in fine. The tire isn't showing any issues yet but I haven't taken the time to pull the abs sensor back out to give it a real check. If it's still leaking I intend to use the method of flipping the retainer ring around, we'll see though.
Myrunr2010
New member
I finally got around to pulling the sensor back out this week and taking a look. There was some moisture/oil in there, but nothing substantial, you could just see a very fine coat of it on the sensor and around the ABS ring. Guess that means i will be pulling it all back apart at some point......
Drcoffee
Senior Member
Don't be so quick to tear it down again. Use a thin but absorbant rag and run it around the ABS ring by stuffing it into the cogs and spinning the wheel slowly and let it absorb the oil. Soak up what's in there. It may take doing this every month for 6 months. When mine was finally sealed, I kept getting a residue from the gear lube back-flowing from the bearings after being flooded 3x. If your ABS isnt flooded with oil, its probably the oil coming back out from the outer seal thru the the bearings. For me I knew it wasn't a fresh leak because I switched from Mobil 1 (amber) to Royal Purple (purple) and I could see there was no purple in the oil I was soaking up. If its a fresh leak, there will be lots of oil in there.
txbonds
Senior Member
I just did both rear axles and did my own press work. I've not started driving it yet to confirm it's not leaking but here are my before and after comparison shots. I used the abs ring to set level as mine was level with the threaded studs. I did reverse the direction of the retainer ring bevel. You can see the wear mark from where the seal was riding on the original ring though. But you are right that it doesn't get pressed all the way down to the snap ring.
Before
After
Before
After
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Drcoffee
Senior Member
txbonds,
It looks like you pressed the retainer down too far. Look at your first picture. The brown ring is RUST and was outside the seal. Inboard of that is a polished ring, which is where the dust lip was riding. The actual oil seal was riding on the bevel. Compare both pictures and the new bevel isn't as shiny, right?
You may be lucky and get the retainer under the oil seal but from how much polished axle is exposed inboard of the retainer, you may have missed the mark.
It looks like you pressed the retainer down too far. Look at your first picture. The brown ring is RUST and was outside the seal. Inboard of that is a polished ring, which is where the dust lip was riding. The actual oil seal was riding on the bevel. Compare both pictures and the new bevel isn't as shiny, right?
You may be lucky and get the retainer under the oil seal but from how much polished axle is exposed inboard of the retainer, you may have missed the mark.
Myrunr2010
New member
Well that gives me hope. Guess ill have to pull it out and try to clean it up some and see what I get. I guess just cut some shop rags or old t-shirts into long strips that can fed into the housing through the abs opening and spin it around a bunch? That about what you did?
Drcoffee
Senior Member
Exactly. But I would go forward one revolution and then reverse direction and pull it back out so I got two swipes on the same rag. Cheese cloth is what I used. It soaks up well and is thin enough to fit in the housing around the ABS wheel. A ribboned t-shirt should work too
txbonds
Senior Member
That first picture was clipped. Here is another. As mentioned I used the abs ring height as my marker which is in the identical spot as before. Only thing I did different is put the bevel towards the abs ring. If I missed it it wasn't by much but I guess the degree of miss doesn't matter. LOL. Fingers crossed anyway.
I'm not sure what dust shield you are talking about though as I only see a seal.
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txbonds
Senior Member
This is after about 10 miles of driving it. As best I can tell its still dry in there. I not only felt and wiped the abs sensor and hole, but also used a qtip with some needle nose pliers to swab the bottom of the axle tube. Not saying it won't leak but I think its holding so far. Will check it again after some more driving and then again after a week or two. I'm hoping it holds as it would be a pain in the arse to have to pull it and do it again.
Drivers Side
Passenger Side
Myrunr2010
New member
Well I ran a t-shirt around it last night. It didn't seem to pick up any fresh oil, so maybe it has held tight. The tire has quite a few more oil lines going down it than when I replaced the seal, but none of them look super fresh. We made around a 4 hour drive (one way) in it last weekend, so I feel like if it was leaking still then my tire would have plenty of fresh oil marks on it...
Drcoffee
Senior Member
Sounds like you nailed it. If it was leaking, the rag would be soaked with oil. I would re-check in 1,000 miles and if its still dry I wouldn't worry any more.
