OORUNNER

I had a local shop change a wheel bearing for me. When I went to my tire shop for a rotation they pointed out a leaking axle seal on the side with the replaced bearing. I changed the seal myself only to have it start leaking shortly thereafter. When I pulled the axle again, I noticed that the original shop cut the old bearing off using a torch and the sealing surface had a nice sharp gouge in it.

I got an axle from a salvage yard. I noticed when I removed it from the junk 4Runner that the seal was leaking. I put another new seal in and installed the salvage axle. Two months later and you guessed it - leaking again.

I took the truck to another shop and had them do the seal, bearing, brakes - the whole nine yards. Two months later its leaking again! They redid the seal at no charge and said that the seal was in crooked. They stated that the brake shoes were OK and didn't need replacing.

Two months later and it's leaking again! The shop says that they believe that the axle is bent. They want $900 for a new axle, bearing, seal and ABS ring (all Toyota parts). I have decided to get the parts and do this myself.

Does anyone know what the difference in the axles would be if the truck is came with 16" or 15" tires originally? They carry different part numbers. I bought my 4Runner used with 60K on it and it had factory 16" wheels on it. I didn't know it, but it came from the factory with 15" wheels on it (verified by the sticker in the door jamb). I don't know what the salvage 4runner came with as far as rim size.

Sorry about the epic post.

OORUNNER

I guess no one knows what the difference in the axles for a 15" rim and a 16" rim is. I can find replacement axles a vehicle that came with 16" rims, but not 15".

I'm guessing that the difference would be at the rim itself since everything about the read end is the same. And since I have OEM 16" rims on the truck, I should be OK.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks.

osideEVO

Did you ever figure out if there's a difference between axles from a 15" and 16"..?

Gmann2

different size rims throws off speedometer but you can use 16 incn rims on a factory 15 inch rearend