Jason B

Post edited.

Adam F

I realize this is an old thread, but tomorrow I'm replacing the seals on mine and my buddy's 4Runners and was wondering if I should get a dealer seal or a regular Timken 1960 seal.

Man4God

Whatever seal that is for the Tacoma, not the 4Runner. I heard that they updated that part but not the 4Runner part. Go figure.

BTW, if you have ANY of the black goo leftover from the stuff leaking into the shoes, just replace them. Also, clean out the inside of the drum very well because I just replaced a seal and had all sorts of problems afterwards with the brakes. I wound up replacing the stock 140000 mile drums and the shoes after just doing the shoes and having gear oil saturated brake dust get on the first set of replacement shoes...What a nightmare. Glad it is over.

X-AWDriver

I'd use OEM seals since I've seen issue with non-OEM.

Jason B

I'd get it from Toyota. Also, my drum and brakes were soaked with fluid, but I cleaned them up real good with parts cleaner and it made them like new. Didn't replace any brake components, and this over 4 years ago.

mr_schuster

Its been a while since I worked at the dealer, but when I was there we replaced axle seals on almost every Sequoia and 4runner in our area. The inner seal would leak and the rear shoes would become saturated in gear oil. Worst I have seen was a locked up wheel because of the brakes swelling up due to saturated linings. Finally Tech support started helping us out a little by asking us not to install new seals flush against the inner axle housing. We were told the seal itself was not at fault, but the metal ring which resides behind the ABS ring was not properly placed on the axle itself. Engineering flaw. The outer ring on the axle is what the seal rides against. We would apply a light coat of white lithum grease to the axle ring and reinstall the axle into the housing then spin the axle one or two times. Then carefully removing the axle you could see where the seal had been riding on the axle ring, if at all. We would take a measurement with a dial caliper of where the seal was originally and where it needed to be. Removed the old seal and replaced the new one further forward from the old seal by the measurment taken. Sounds like a pain and it was, hopefully they have modified the seal to correct the problem, but if not try to do this if your truck is out of warranty.

wjwerdna

awesome... assuming this is in reference to 3rd gens as well? could you add years to your post to help people use this info? seems very valuable to know

mr_schuster

This is only in reference to 3rd gens. Like I said it's been years, going on four since I worked at the dealer. They may have a TSB out on a new seal design or axle ring. I just don't know. Someone on here I am sure works at a dealer now and can look into this or knows what I am talking about. But if your seal is leaking and its a 3rd gen then it will probably be affected like the rest of them. My dealer charged 3 hours a side to replace the seals, a half hour to R&R the diff fluid, 1.6 hours to replace the rear shoes and machine the drums plus the cost of the seals, fluid, shoes and brake cleaner. Not a cheap job when your out of warranty. Oh $89 per hour in NC.

X-AWDriver

My axle seals with new front and rear brakes was just a little over $500 out the door.

97ltd4x4

Mr schuster I believe you are correct.I fought my axle seals leaking for a long time.

I bought the truck used at 67k,I noticed they had seals put in by the dealer at 32k from what the records had shown.At about 80k they had started leaking,rr worse than lr,So I replaced shoes,seals and did the diff. breather mod,thinking it might be clogged pushing fluid out past seals..Well 6-7k later they were leaking again,pulled them out again,I noticed the rr bearing had the grease washed out,lr was just starting to leak.Took both axles down to the local machine shop had new TOYOTA bearings pressed in,replaced TOYOTA seals again, TOYOTA shoes.They held up for a while,20k later and the RR was leaking bad,lr was dry...At this point I had it,gonna do it myself and figure this out.

Bought a press,shop prees,bearing splitter kit,SST for tube.New seals, bearings,retainers and one tone ring incase I break one removing or installing.

I did the rr side(problem side).When I removed the axle assy. I noticed that the seal was barely touching the inner retainer area.Put little bearing grease on retainer installed axle again,removed and yep it was barely touching the retainer.I took a measurement,the start of the retainer to the shiney part of the axle shaft was 5mm.I wanted to move it in towards the diff a little bit.1-2mm(too much and and it would hit the inside of the axle tube,the 4 cutouts),so the new measurement would be 3.5-4mm.pressed all apart installed and went slowly removing the axle from the press and measuring as I went together. ended up at 3.5mm measurement from the shiney part of the axle to the retainer.Installed with bearing grease,Removed and now the seal was riding dead center of the retainer.....I believe this is the fix.

I think that with the seal riding at the inner most edge any movement(play) of the bearing would cause fluid to leak past the seal.The machine shop probably put eveything back to where it was before,so it was still riding at the edge of the seal.

Its only been about 8k and still its dry as a bone.I am going to do the left side when time and temp permits,I have bearing retainers,seal for other side.


I used this link for refrance along with FSM,when I did it myself.http://128.83.80.200/taco/rwb.html

I will do a write-up step by step w/pics when I do the LR.Its still dry,but I might as well do it and be done with it.

mr_schuster

Sounds good. A nice visual of the correct replacment will help many of the unfortunate souls who own a 3rd gen four runner with continuously leaking rear seals. Good luck to all.

Rescue84

Sooo... a few questions.

First... I was rear ended a while back and they ended up replacing the axle housing... now my passenger side rear seal seems to be leaking quite a bit of oil... I am of course jumping to the conclusion that this was in some way caused by the "repair"... am I wrong in assuming this?

Also... by driving with this wonderful leaking seal how much damage would I potentially be doing?

Thanks guys...

904_runner

bump? Eventhough this mine is a 2nd gen, i figured id post here instead of starting a new topic. Cool?

My rear driver side is leaking now, i am looking at just replacing both seals (passenger and driver sides) , I have to replace at least the driver side shoes, so i will probably replace both sides.

What is your guys thoughts on replacing both bearings while i am down there?
Along with both seals, and shoes?

Anything else i should look at?

mkgarrison5

Question-- when your axle seal or seals go bad do you guys go ahead and replace the bearings also since they are all close together? esp with mileage above 100k?

mkgarrison5

LOL sorry 904 runner i basically asked the same question.. to me, common sense says yes to go ahead and replace the bearings bc they will go out soon enough anyway esp if you offroad

Jay204

I just had my rear seals done on my 2000 4Runner. My E-brake had seized and started to cause some headache's! I guess all the tight pressure on diff caused the seals to leak. 300$ with parts/labor. At one point my truck wouldn't even budge after being parked cause my stupid e-brake was stuck ON.

Mason Dixon

I did my passenger side seal twice in the past 3 years, I guess the first time I didn't get it seated just right. Anyway, I've gone probably 20k miles since the last time and have not had any bearing problems.

Ron Helmuth

I am following along on this and would welcome an opinion on whether or not to go ahead and just do the rear bearing seals before they act up (leak) or simply wait to see if they are going to do so...

Also is the extended rear breather mod actually helping this situation or unrelated?

Special thanks to mr schuster an actual (former)Toyota tech with the experience on the job with our rigs.

Jason B

Well, 6 years later, my drivers side axel seal is leaking again... Any new tips?

J2F42C

I cannot remember, did you use the upgraded OEM seal?

You did a great write-up; I used pointers from it to change my seals.

I did use the new seal the first time, and even with that, the driver's side began to leak six months later. Almost $200 for parts and labor for new bearings and the works. Two years ago and no leaks since.