Stangmandan

So I have 1992 4Runner and I have a leak coming from the rear diff on the passenger side inside of the brake drum. I know its gear oil cause of the nasty smell. I already made sure that my diff breather wasnt plugged up and causing the gear oil to be pushed out the safts.
I have already checked out the fsm on the 4Runner and it shows 2 oil seals, an O ring and two gaskets. My question is this. I know that if and when I get these shafts out to do the work its the best to replace the bearings and retainers with new ones but should I if there is no problems yet?
The truck has well over a 140,000 miles on it now. I know I can take in the shafts and have them press on the bearings just like I did when I rebuilt my 9'' on my Mustang so I know I can do the rest. This toyota rear end is a little different though. Theres a lot of stuff in here! An abs speed sensor rotor??
So should I just get everything and rebuilt it all??? I tried to look for a write up on this here in yotatech but I couldnt find nothing. I would like to do everything all at once. Even dropping the 3rd member and resealing cause it too has a little leak. And if I have the money a Lock Rite would be nice!!
So if anyone can help it would be truly appreciated.
Thanks,
Daniel

Stangmandan

Bump.

TOYOTA 1

if the seal has been leaking for a while then the 90wt likely washed out the grease that was in that bearing.

that being said, if it was in the budget i would do everything while i was in there.

though if its not in the budget then i would inspect and only replace what was necessary.

Stuwy123

iTrader: (1)

It's pretty simple to swap out your axle seals and re-seal your rear diff.
You'll need:
- Diff oil (check the manual for wt and qty)
- Both axle seals for both sides (might as well).
- Some good oil resistant RTV. The toyota black RTV is excellent (but pricey).
- Liquid wrench, PB blaster (for rusty bolts)
- Brake fluid

Check out the FSM. It's pretty straight forward. You can do it on your own in an afternoon. You'll just need some help with bleeding your brakes when it's all back together.
As far as the bearings, that's a tough call. I'm not sure if you can check them while they are still attached.
Once the axles are out, if you can wiggle the bearing side to side (not rotating), they're toast. Search for wheel bearings, someone had a video of bad rear wheel bearings. You'll know when you pull the axles out.
Yes you will need to have them pressed on.

Stangmandan

During my Thanksgiving vacation I decided to go ahead and rebuild my leaking rear diff. I took a trip over to the stealership and bought all the parts I needed like new bearings, bearing cases, retainers, snap rings and oil seals. That all came out to 230.66. Gotta have Toyota parts right!
Getting everything apart was a breeze. Even took off the 3rd member to re do the seal on it cause it to had a small leak. The one I was most concerned about was the leak coming from the passenger side saft. It had the drum all full of stinky gear oil.
Doing it by myself was not bad at all. Thrid member was kind of a pain cause it weights so much but I got it in with the help of my jack. Brake lines came out easy and I had no problems with the shafts either. Only thing I had to have done by someone was having the bearings removed and the new ones pressed on. I took the shafts over to a local place called Adams driveshaft and theytook care of that for 144.00. So total cost came out to 347.66.
Better than taking it some where and probably paying over 800 to have the same thing done!! I love working on my 4Runner! Hopefully now I can say that the rear end will last another 19 yrs. Brakes looked good so now I can move on to the front.
I did have a question though. What the heck is that plug on top of the 3rd member? It had a line coming out of it and going into the body somewhere. It looked like a pvc or something of that nature. Is it a sensor for the rear diff? Temp sensor maybe?
All in all it was an easy job! My only problem was the garage, my girlfriends car and my 4Runner still smell like gear oil!! Which reminds me I need to pick up my mess. Talk to you all later!

BoostinChick

^ ^ Maybe the previous owner put in a rear diff breather?

Murakami

maybe your anti-lock brake sensor.

Stangmandan

Well Boostinchick I know what my rear diff breather looks like. I even added a longer line to it for river crossing so I know its not that. And Murakami I really dont know if that could be it either?? My truck doesnt have abs to begin with. Whatever it is it came from the factory like that. Anybody else want to take a guess? I dont even see it on the fsm for the 4Runner on line.
Hmmmmmm??

Stangmandan

My bad! It is a abs sensor! So I guess I do have abs in the rear. I figured I didnt cause there is no abs speed sensor on my either of my shafts when I removed them.
Oh well. I answered my own question.
DuH. Sometimes I get it the third time around. Ha!

Stangmandan

Forgot to say that Murakami you got it right! Now Im just wondering how the heck does that thing work?

interested2meet

your ring gear has a plate with teeth behind it that the sensor reads off of, i thing you have to get geasr specifically design for this set up if you ever decide to do a gear swap.

xxJDxx

My rear diff is leaking as well but it looks like its leaking for the bottom of the diff. right on the seam that rounds around the circumference of the diff itself.

Anyone know if this seal is as easy to replace as the pinion seal?? It looks like if I was able to remove the driveshaft the diff unbolts along this seam and I could just replace the seal?? but i'm not sure

Stangmandan

Thats excatcly what you need to do. But! You will also need to pull each shaft out in order to get the 3rd member out to redo that seal. All I used was some good RTV gasket maker and you should be good. As of now my diff is not leaking anymore. I had leaking seals where the shafts go in so I had to rebuild the whole rear end which included bearings and seals so I also did the 3rd member cause it too had a small leak. Now I dont have to worry about the rear end for awhile. You might consider doing the same if you are just going to fix the seal on the 3rd member. Its good to get it all at once!

twitchrunner

pmd..