Ritzy4Runner

iTrader: (1)

Pulled the right side axle to replace the inner axle seal as it seemed the inner seal had started leaking. When I pulled the shaft and placed the axle on the ground I remembered reading about checking the wheel bearings for play. I think I may have a bad rear wheel bearing. I have never done this or seen it so I don't know if this is normal or not. There seems to be some lateral movement when I hold the wheel plate and move it in a rocking motion. there is a very slifght movement when I tried to lift the wheel plate up and down but it seems to be very noticable when the plate is moved in a rocking motion. I hope the video will help to show the movement. You can see oil being squished upward when I rocked the plate. You can also feel the movement. Not sure if any of this movement is "normal", I post it here for those of the "Following" to guide me in my quest for knowledge ... in other words hey guys is this thing toast?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwAeGSchkdc

(sigh) and its 5 pm on a Saturday ...

Ritzy4Runner

iTrader: (1)

No one has any ideas, suggestions, knowledge or suggestions? Happy 4th of July!

VSU_4runnin

i saw a video of what bad play looks like... trying to find it

mmml4

I'm not sure you can get a good check that way. IIRC a single row ball bearing will allow movement similar to what is seen in the video, but not sure as to how much.

The way I would check it is to put it back in the housing and check the axle for any play top to bottom and in and out. I would also check for it to be smooth and quite while rotating by hand.

J2F42C

Since you have the axle out, why not? I'd say within a year the bearing will be free of grease. The parts will be for one side $130~$160, without machine shop labor, which could be as cheap as $30 to $130 per side for someone to press the bearing and all the goodies out.

Someone on here from WA must know of a good machine shop for you.

pineapple

My apologies for my lack of computer skills otherwise I would have posted the "above article.' It is from a '4x4wire' article in 2003 by authors Biebelheimer & Micciche showing how to do the axle work (bearings,seals, etc) w/o the need for machineshop expenses by good ol shade tree mechanic's methods such as smacking the axle ass'y on the ground (bypassing the need for a press). I've had my axles out when I replaced all the bearings/races around 200K miles My truck now has 360K miles but nolonger my DD

Ritzy4Runner

iTrader: (1)

I checked the play in the bearings again and it just seems like there is too much lateral play. I am going to take the axle to Toyota and have them take a look, if it is infact bad, I will just order the parts and see how much they will charge me to remove the old parts and install the new ones. I gotta get this done before I leave in about 10 days. also I don't ahve a socket anywhere close to the size of the one I would need to install the new seal. Any ideas on how else to fit that inner seal? Is there a tool that I coudl rent from an auto store? Happy to listen to any recommendations

redhawk427

take a look here

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/mainte...wheel_bearing/

Crywolf

Thought I'd ad my .02. I just had this service done on my rig at the local Toyota dealer. It cost $400 total to do just one side. There are 2 seperate seals that must be replaced, one o ring, the bearing, the race, and the abs ring. The rings and race must be cut off, they can not be pressed off or re-used. It can be done on your own for cheaper if your good with a cutter but don't knick that axle! Hope this helps a bit.

Ritzy4Runner

iTrader: (1)

Well the bearing si definitely toast! After sitting for a couple of days it was very obvious that the lateral movement was not normal. In fact I noticed that in one position there was ALOT of lateral movenet, rotate the wheel 90 degress and there was very little, another 90 degrees and it was huge again. So I had the parts guy break out his drawings and ordrered what I needed to replace the bearing. Ended up replacing outer seal, bearing,bearing spacer/retainer, ABS sensor gear and the second retainer.

The parts total cost to me was $170. Originally it was $120 for the parts until service got it. The service charge was going to be $50 so I was going to be in to it for $170. Well when and tech started he needed the ABS ring, which I did not knw I needed as well. Bottom line that was another $45. I was not too happy about that but the service guy said he would help me out on this. So my total bill came to just under $200 for one side, I still have to install the axle.

I heard about two different tricks to getting the seal out, the parts guy had been a tech for years and told me to take the end of the axle and place it just inside the lip of the seal and when you get it in contact with the axle housing to give ia quick 'pop' and it should come right out. The tech who did the work showed me the tool they use to hook the seal and then hit the hook with a hammer as it has a vertical bar for that or to just use a long crowbar. I couldn't find my large wrecking bar so I got my small one wrapped the shank in a heavy cloth and hooked the inside of the seal and rapped it with a large ball pean hammer and it took getting into three different locations on the seal but it popped right out.

Went to Sears and picked up a 2 1/8" socket (54mm) and lubed the edges of the seal with gear oil, set it in place and then started tapping the socket lightly along the center of the socket but so it was slightly off center and just kept working my way around until the seal was flush in the tube.

Some thing I noted in the seal. Supposedly Toyota has superceeded the original seal and replaced it with am "improved" version. Waht I noticed in the difference was that the new seal inner surface that contacts the axle shaft is kinda seraided as the original seal was smooth.

Also how do you check the differential breath? I had thought about replacing it but the parts cost for the bearings was higher then I expected.

Thanks again for your input

myyota

That bearing is definatly bad and needs to be replaced. It would be a good idea to replace both wheel bearings at the same time. When i got my 86 4Runner i had to replace the rear wheel bearings because with 325000 miles on then they were a lot looser than the one in your video, i could move them from side to side about a 1/4'' of an inch.

delio

hey.... I replaced my bearings three years ago..it was exactly the same....the reason that I found out was my inner seal leaked and soaked the brakes.....so I pulled it apart and noticed that there was too much play. but there should be a little bit of play but not too much..cause as the bearing heats up they will expand.......just to let you know it cost alot of money to replace the bearings, cost me almost a thousand canadian dollars in parts saved on labour cause I did it myself....2 bearings 2 retaining sleeves 2 abs sensors 4 seals and two hours of machine shop labour to re/re bearings sleeves abs sensors and yeah I replace the brakes as well... good luck

Gerdo

Even if the bearings aren't bad, they will be. If you have gear oil leaking into your brakes then that oil has flushed the grease out of the bearings.

redhawk427

did you do the extended diff breather mod?

Ritzy4Runner

iTrader: (1)

DEfintely a good idea but I will wait until I get back from my trip. I don't do alot of hard core wheelin so I'm too concerned right now. I did pull the breather to check it for operation, will let pressure escape but acts like a check valve going the other direction.

Toyota did the bearing as it was easier for me to get the parts there and just ahve the techs install the bearing, ABS detector and retainer rings. Took it for a quickie test drive and all seems to be well. Will drive it this week as a sort of pre-test for the trip next week. Thanks to all who helped, all the advice and encouragement.

kennyb3030

i got a 99 4r with 141k, and i have a roaring noise coming from the rear end at highway speeds, kinda sounds like i have mud tires on the 4r, could this be a sign of bearings going bad?

Gerdo

I'm not sure if this is correct. It doesn't sound good. If your axle is warm/hot and you drive thru water the axle will cool and draw in the water past the seals.

Extend it.

Ron Helmuth

sorry I did not catch up to this sooner Ritz. I bet we could have saved you some frustration or money or both. You've always been nice enough to answer my queries. I feel we let you down on this one.

There is a great writeup on this over on T4R.org and let me find it sir. Very exhaustive writeup and pics reminded me of your kind of work just a sec...

okay here it is and if ever a thread from another forum deserved to be included over here as a TECH writeup this maybe would be the one-

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-ge...d-3rd-gen.html

anyone know why does this sub-forum (3rd gen Runners) only show 3 pages of history? I can scan backwards 50 pages or more over on T4R....

I still need to do my passenger side-my drivers side inner seal has been done 3times-this last time finally with the correct part ending in digit "6" .

Ritz verify your parts used match big fish's....and have a good trip

Ron Helmuth

while we are on the topic of 3rd gen maintenance issues- this rather well written thread is now contained in MAINTENANCE of T4R.org

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/mainte...diys-faqs.html

mattbatson

I am in the process of doing the passenger side seal right now.
I have the axle sitting on the garage floor and noticed there was some wobble to the backing plate/bearing.
So I immediately got online to see if I could figure out if my bearing was shot.
Thing is, the bearings were done at the dealer in 07 when they did both seals.

So anywho, there isnt any up and down play, and I dont feel any side to side play.
Just a wobble.

I'm really hoping I dont need to do the bearing. I mean, geez, I just had em done about 50K miles ago. Shouldnt they last longer than that?
I dont offroad or drive on crappy dirt roads, or even tow.