pntbol11

iTrader: (1)

I have an 86 4x4 5spd ex cab toyota pickup and the ream main seal is leaking. I was just looking for some pointers on replacement. I have a haynes maual but just wanted to see if anyone had a thread on it or knew a simpler way. Thanks.

drew303

I dont think theres any writeup on here, maybe ... ive never looked.

Basically, it's a pain in the butt. Only because you gotta drop the transmission and as many times I've done that, I still hate it LoL

you're gonna need to replace the real oil retainer seal (i dont remember if the rear main seal comes with that in the package or not, i forget, i dont think it does. And a 'speedy sleeve' might be a good idea. It's a slip that goes over the output make a perfect new sealing surface for the new main seal (the seal can overtime wear a grove in the metal causing the leak)

speedy sleeve isn't neccessary tho. might wanna do the input retainer seal on the tranny. but againt not neccessary. on my bros former 85, the real oil retainer was actually what was leaking, not the main seal.

anyway, you gotta drop the transmission. Tranny jack helps but I've done it a bunch, alone, with just a floor jack and ratchet straps.

You'll need to pull the shifters (cover boot, shifters) you dont need to unbolt the covers, they pop out, the haynes manual might detail how they get out, but if you just look at em im sure you'll figure it out, they're harder to get back in than out, lol

the two 17mm bolts ontop of the bell housing are the hardest to get to, best way to get them out is long extensions (i mean like 2-3ft ) and a swivel socket to get up in there from underneath the truck. I have a 2" body lift and am able to get in through the shifter hole in the floor, without a swivel. but thats cuz of the body lift.

You can leave the cross member on, or take it off when you remove the tranny, I've done it both ways (on or off) and I prefer to leave it on even tho it can be in the way but its 4 less bolts i dont gotta touch and when you've done a few of these, you tend to get impatient

Once the trannys out, pull the clutch pressure plate, dont breathe in the dust! =), drop the clutch, you'll need a clutch alignment tool to reinstall the clutch so you'll want that before you go back to putting stuff together... they're a few bucks at a parts store .. cheap plastic thing

pull the fly wheel, you'll probably need to put a 19mm wrench on the front and some kind of bar to lock the motor from turning over when you break the flywheel bolts free... and same for when you torque them back down.

pull the oil retainer, pop out the old main seal, tap in the new one. Reinstall with new oil retainer seal, some RTV..

I'd reccomend draining the oil AFTER you do all this, so anything that falls into the pan will flush out..you dont need to drain it before you pull the rear.. oil isn't going to come spilling out, it pools lower than the top of the pan =)

Put it all back together.

hope that helps

drew303

Might consider replacing the clutch/pressure plate/flywheel while you got it all torn down, if the clutch has a lot of miles, even if its not slipping yet.

how i lowered/raised the tranny by myself once,



and another time,

pntbol11

iTrader: (1)

thanks alot. Thats prety much what I was looking for. I have a full gasket set for my motor so it should have what I need.

m1ashooter

drew303 is dead on with his post. I changed my clutch about a month ago because the main seal had leaked oil into the clutch housing area and jacked up my clutch. Like drew303 was saying, the top bolt on the transmission is a pain to get to. Me and a buddy combined every extension we had to get to it. He was sitting back in front of the rear axle and i was up front holding the extensions steady. We also used the u-joint type socket too. It was pretty funny but it worked!

Beware of the evil pilot bearing. (If your haynes manual is like mine they talk about this on page 8-5.) The pilot bearing broke apart as we took the transmission apart and we tried everything to get outer sleeve out. Mine is an 89 4runner so it had been there a long time and was stuck. None of the parts stores had a bearing puller that would fit. I had to beg and plead with the transmission shop that turned my flywheel to let me borrow their $200 Snap-on puller. They did and we had it off in about 30 seconds. That's after we spent hours trying every thing else.

My clutch kit was under $150 for the whole kit from Oreilly Auto parts. The main seal was under $15 if I remember correctly. Other than the few PITA issues we had everything else when smoothly. Good luck.