ThomasJ

I noticed I have oil coming out of the drivers side axle seal. The brakes are soaked and the inside of the rim and tire are all oily. My question is, do you have to have any speacialty tools or pullers etc. to replace the seal? I just want to be prepared when I go to replace it. It on a 95 3.0 4Runner. Approxamtley how does it take to do the job?

I also noticed that my vent was clogged with mud. I think this may have been what caused the seal to fail in the first place.

Thanks

Jonathan

Here's a link that should help you out Seal Replacement . it's a pretty simple job. The hardest part is bleeding the brakes. Also do a search this has been covered many times.

AW1090

yup, it's messy, but not hard....just take your time with it. You might want to rent a seal driver set from autozone.

Flamedx4

Interesting.
I've done a half dozen or so of those, and the inner seal replacement will not stop the leaking. The OUTER seal stops the leaking. The bearing is lubricated by the oil in the axle housing, so the inner seal cannot be the seal that keeps the oil in. The bearing must be pressed out to remove the outer seal. (I don't 'think' the '94 is anydifferent than the 85s and 90s I've done.)

This is a great time to go ahead and replace the bearings. If you take the assemblies out and carry them to a shop they'll press em out and back in quickly - cost me 10 bucks each last time I did it.

ThomasJ

From what ive been told I think my truck has a sealed bearing on the axle. I dont think it uses the oil to lube the bearing. I may be wrong though. Maybe sombody else can verify this. I am going to replace it as soon as I get the rear brake parts.

Flamedx4

That might be it. Ahhh, progress....

AW1090

I did the bearings and outer seal the first time along with the inner seal......I thought the bearings were sealed and lubricated....anyways, I put it all back together and a week later it started leaking again. I took it back apart and replaced the inner seal and breather. It hasn't leaked since....

FS

buy 2 seals just in case the first one gets messed up when you drive it in, if you don't need the second just take it back.

jataga

I have replaced mine a few times and the only thing you really need is a piece of wood just a little bit smaller than the diameter of the inner seal to put the new seal back in. I also took the metal seal and put it in the freezer for about 2 hours to make it shrink b/c otherwise, it has to be pushed in PERFECT to fit which is a b!tch. I thought of this the 3rd time i had to replace the seal.

I haven't read the write up on it but i jacked only that side of my 4Runner up so the axle oil wouldn't leak out as much.

I dont think the axle oil is suppose to lube the bearings. they come with all the lube from the factory and they are sealed anyway.

Ric

is there a "kit" you can buy ? if so would anyone know the part number ? for a 1999
thankx.

jataga

i dont know if there is a kit since the only thing I replaced was the seal. Just go to Toyota and tell them what you want. send me your email address and i will send you some documents i have along with some pictures from the shop manual that will help you out.

jataga@att.net

good luck,
John

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Yep, the bearing is sealed. One issue you can have when oil leaks through the bearing seals, it can wash the grease out of the bearing and that can cause the bearing to wear faster.

Ric

jataga,
thankx but im not doing it myself, ill have a buddy do it.

kev93p-up

I replaced just the inners recently. I used a large socket as a seal driver. I had trouble with the small spring inside the seal lip that holds the tensoin on the seal. It would pop off the seal from the impact of driving it in. I ended up packing the inside of the seal with grease and it held the little spring in place so I could drive it in. No signs of leakage since.