mattbatson

Okay, this will hopefully help out some people on here with rear axle seal issues like I've had for years now
97 4runner with 250K miles.

for the last couple of years, I've replaced the axle seals several times, along with the wheel bearings, etc.

I even did the fix on here by the member who came up with reversing the retainer ring that the seal sits on and spacing it a few mm further inboard so that the seal would sit more in the center.

I did this, and it still leaked.

Anyways, a couple of years ago I had checked the breather and it wasn't clogged and seemed to work fine.

a few weeks ago, I went ahead and pulled the breather again, cause I was running out of ideas. It again seemed fine, it rattled when shaken, the spring inside and everything else worked fine.

I had read on here about people extending it and I decided that maybe...just maybe...the factory breather wasn't cutting the mustard.

So, I extended it with some tubing and then went to advanced auto and bought one of those "ricer" valve cover breather filter thingy's and hose clamped it onto the end of the breather hose.
I threw the oem breather in the garbage.

A week went by and no leak. Two weeks and still no leak.
This is the third week and I just made a 1100 mile trip towing a 3000lb trailer and still no leak.

it is fixed...I'm 100% certain.
I would have seen evidence of gear oil by now.

So, take this for what it is worth, and decide if this is something you should try or not...
I just know that for me and mine, it worked and I'm FINALLY done with that damn seal problem

cheers

tantacoma

Thanx for posting your solution. That axle seal is a problem for many of us.

Jomoka

I was rotating tires juse a couple of weeks ago and noticed oil coming out of the right drum. Arrrrgh! But checked the breather and it was stuck solid. Took that off and freed it up and so far so good, no new oil.

94 Newbie

But, when I removed it to do the breather mod, my differential hissed at me !!

I am hoping that the new breather, coupled w/ the long hose, will solve the problem although I will probably go ahead and have the seal and bearing replaced just to CYA.

I have an independent Toyota/4 by shop that I am going to use - I asked about doing both sides, and his response was that it is such a PITA that if it ain't broke ( leaking ), don't mess w/ it.

I can live w/ that ...


Britt

scuba

Yeah, that's the pressure built up that pushed itself out of the axle seal.

DRCOFFEE

Just because its not leaking at the wheel doesn't mean it isn't leaking. If your ABS sensor isn't rusted in place, pop it out and check in the cavity for gear oil. It may just be a little slower working its way out without the build up of pressure.

mattbatson

my abs sensor is for sure not rusted in place.
I've removed it about 20 times in the last year or so...

but yes, I will check it at some point here.

but, what you have to understand is that I've owned this truck since new and have a lot of experience with it....so I know that after the haul I just did, that I would see gear oil at the drum if it was leaking.

you want to talk about pressure, ha ha...I was running 75 mph for over a thousand miles while pulling a 3000lb trailer through the Appalachian mountains.
trust me...if it was leaking, you would see it from the drum.


but, I planned on pulling the abs sensor anyways to make sure at some point...just don't have the time right now with x mas and family in town

mattbatson

just to be clear...
what I'm trying to say in this thread is that maybe...just maybe...the factory oem breather doesn't provide enough pressure relief for the rear diff.

maybe this has something to do with all these rear axle seal issues that we have.

I know for a fact my retainer ring was riding right in the middle of the seal when it leaked last...cause you could see the shiny wear ring...and it was right in the middle.

I then bypassed the oem breather and now it doesn't leak.

maybe that oem breather isn't quite up to snuff?

DRCOFFEE

Hey, I know what you are saying. My thread is based on the fact that your vent is free flowing. There's not many seals that can hold up to pressure within the axle housing. The extended vent hose is a must for any SUV. I'm baffled why the factory would make the front axle vent extended up the fender but not the rear.

Keith B.

If you are speaking of the factory breather, the hissing sound you heard is not air escaping, but air rushing in.
As anyone can demonstrate for themselves, the factory breather is a one-way valve; it lets pressure escape but blocks re-entry, thereby establishing a vacuum state in the diff/axle at cold temp, and and allowing an 'iso' pressure state(no pressure plus or minus) at operating temp.
My local brain-dead dealer service department tried to blame the failure of their 4th redo of this axle seal repair on my extended breather. It didn't matter to them that my extended breather actually had less resistance than the stock breather that they claimed will "fix" the leak problem.

DRCOFFEE

Not so sure about your description of the valve. It is a simple crimped cap on a hollow pipe valve. It seals nothing. When I did my breather relocation, I destroyed the old valve and removed the cap to see if there was more to it. It simply shields dirt from getting in the diff. On my IS300, I just swapped pumkins for an LSD unit and I checked the valve by feeling if it was free to move. It seemed to wobble just fine. Rather than rely on that, I removed the valve to see if it could breath, and nope. It was plugged with crud.

If you plan to check your breather, remove it and hose it down with brake cleaner. The internal pipe could be gummed with oil gear oil and dirt.