robstibz

Axle seals went on my 4runner, should have been a straight forward job...should've!

Drums were siezed onto the hub and in the process of removing/destroying them, I also had to damage the backing plate. So I figured since i'm at 160k anyway, lets do the bearings while i'm in there.

I brought the axles to one dealer who quoted me $175, I figured thats not bad and assumed somebody at the dealer may be familiar with it but I was wrong. The service advisor slipped and told me they were sending the axles to a machine shop who "might" be able to swap bearings. That was enough for me to say dont do anything and i'll pick up my axles.

I have medium size press but not the special service tool to get everything off the shaft, and I don't weld. Does anybody know any dealerships with the tool or machine shops that are capable in the Philly area??? Or does anybody have the SST that I could borrow or rent?

I'm going to do a grease test and then probably the drcoffee mod to make sure this doesn't happen again. If i end up doing this myself, how does the backing plate separate from the flange and 4 studs that attach the whole assembly to the axle housing? I have new backing plates, but not sure how i'll replace them. Are the 4 studs pressed in? Can they be hammered out and re-used?

black_taco

iTrader: (2)

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

The mod you are referring to isn't a sure fire way to not have the seals leak again. Upon dissassmbly see where at on the retainer ring the seal was riding. It should be a little shinier than the non-worn ground finish area. If it isn't centered measure the distance it is from the end and then crowd it to whatever side it needs to go to during assembly. If it is centered put the retainer right back where it was during assembly. I am a machinist by trade so I made a little bit different SST but the one made out of a donor axle in the link is pretty clever.

d_bomb

Sound like me last weekend. Took me 3 days of living in the shop because I had the truck torn apart and could get back home. I'll give you my story, but also check out this video on a 7.5" rear, it's the same process. I'll put a link in the bottom.

Any, for me it started with an axle seal, so I swapped those out in about an hour while I waited for my Chromoly shafts and rebuild kits to come in. they came in a day before my wheel bearing completely went to ˟˟˟˟ and I limped the truck to my shop. my axle seals were bad because the bearing had enough play to crush them, even the brand new ones. First, getting the drums off were a pain. I ground down the little edge on the axle to get some of the rust off then heated them up with a torch. first one I hit with the back side of an axe and it came off, the second one I finally figured a way to get it in the press and pressed it off. After that, I left my backing plates on the wheel bearing carriers and had to torch the bearings until I had enough cut that I can slide each ball out and just drop the axle out. This probably won't work for you since you want to re-use the shaft and the inner race for the bearing will still be pressed on and even harder to get off with just torching it, which will weaken the shaft.

The reassembly process was actually very easy and straight forward, I used a piece of scrap tube that had about a 2" I.D. and slid it over the new shaft and pressed all the new stuff in in a couple mins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo7y71IRgig

Nelsonmd

FWIW, I didn't flip the retainer around like Drcoffee did and I don't have any leak anymore. I made sure to not drive the seal all the way in, but rather drive to a particular depth per BFAD's write-up here: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-ge...tml#post571040

down in post #6 he says the depth from the seal to the outer housing surface is 1& 17/32". I aimed for this target and have had no leaks for 2 years now. I have not pulled the axle and looked for the seating surface though, so I don' know how much depth I have of the retainer in the seal.

ThatGuy1295

The dealer told you $175 for new seals, bearing's and labor?


Scratch that, what dealer?.. And why did he say might, did he mean might not need new bearings, or might be capible of switching out bearings. Cause any machine shop can swap out bearings on a yota rear axle.

But for 175 Why wouldn't you just do that?

robstibz

Thanks for the info guys. I'm running off info from BFAD's how-to thread and drcoffee's thread on retainer location. Thankfully the yoda is not my daily driver anymore, so I haven't been in a huge rush,more concerned with doing it right and not having to get into the rear axles again.

The dealer wanted $175 just to press them, which is reasonable. The problem was that he wasn't familiar with it, and that didn't sit right with me. I very rarely bring any of my vehicles to a shop (let alone a dealer). The dealer was going to send it out to a machine shop they never used, and then the price jumped to $240. Not all machine shops are equal, and I've seen them screw up relatively simple jobs on friends vehicles in the past. I know it's a little paranoia on my part but they were going to do exactly what I would've done without the tool - hammered/cut/torched it apart.

So after a little digging, I found a shop in NE philly that does all the press work for a local yoda dealership. They want $200, for the press work, they have the tool. Thinking i may just have him do it and get it over with.

bob200587

My local carquest has a machine shop and they did mine for about that much with no trouble.

ThatGuy1295

Makes since. Ya I thought for a minute there that they'd do all of it for $175. That would be cool. But I woudnt have proceeded either had they told me they were just sending it somewhere else and charging you on top of that.

rokblok

iTrader: (1)

Very few, if any, dealers do any type of machine/press work. Except for maybe turning rotors/drums. And even still, most dealers/shops send that work out as well. Dealers are parts replacers. Not many dealers even do good diagnostic work. They rely on the scanner to point to a problem, then they start throwing parts at it, on your dime... Beware of your dealers/shops....

No offense is intended to those few techs at good dealers. There are good ones out there. But I have worked for various manufacturers dealerships(throughout a 20+ year technician career) and I speak from my experience.

robstibz

I agree 100%, I come from the VW community where dealers are pretty notorious for terrible service, especially on diesels, I've learned my lesson the hard way a long time ago. When I purchased my last diesel VW it came with free maintenance up to 40k or 60k, I forget...I laughed and told them they would never see that car again.

Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated.