My truck started leaking gear oil out of what I thought was a bad wheel seal so I replaced it. While in there I looked at my bearing and it seemed fine but the rear axle started leaking in the same spot again. Any ideas?

 

Maybe you messed up the seal when putting the axle back in?

 

There are two seals; did you replace both?

 

Well the weird thing is that I replaced it almost 3 weeks ago and it just started leaking today. And where is the second seal? Axle side next to the drum?

 

I'm guessing he means the rubber o ring that goes on the end of the axle housing.

When I replaced mine a couple months ago I just used RTV in place of the o ring and I haven't had any issues.

With or without that o ring if you're leaking gear oil the seal is bad.

 

Alright I got it...well I'll dig into tomorrow and take a look

 

 

Not exactly sure what seal you already replaced, but I believe there are two seals and the o-ring that could be replaced if you were to remove the axle.

This is for a 92' pickup so yours may differ:

42311A - Part No. 90310-50006 in the diagram is a seal that is tapped into the axle housing (green arrow area in second picture). I think this is sometimes referred to as the inner seal.

42311E - Part No. 90313-48001 in the diagram (and in TNRabbits photo) is known as the outer seal.







I just did a differential leak repair and drum brake job, and purchased both of the above mentioned seals to do some preventive maintenance while I was in there. Luckily my o-rings were fine because I forgot to purchase those. I only replaced the inner seal because to get to the outer seal it required some press work from a shop.

If it's the inner seal that is leaking, did you use oem seals from the dealer? did you put some grease around it to help tap it in and so it goes in straight and flush? I admittedly screwed one up while tapping it in, and had to run to the dealership to get another one.

 

I replaced the inner seal with a Timken seal. And yes lubed it up and tapped it in straight. I didn't even know about the o-ring so I don't know the condition of that.

 

O-ring is around the outside of the axle tube, behind the hub:

 

Use a genuine Toyota seal 90310-50006. This is the newer design with a different rubber seal design that many of the aftermarket ones do not have. Also make sure you do the grease test to see that the seal is making contact with the retainer.

The outside O-ring keeps water and debris out from the assembly, but it is the inner axle seal which keeps the grease inside the axle housing.