So I slid under the truck the other night only to find that my drivers side rear axle seal is pukeing all over the place and the right seal is beginning to go. How much of a pain is the job and are all of the SST's mentioned in the FSM necessary? Is it a day job?

I would kind-of like to have my truck ready to wheel by Labor Day and not have gear oil spewing onto my rear drums... something about axle grease and brake pads not getting along...

 

Not a difficult job but that depends on your mechanic skills and tools.

Use the "search" feature and "rear axle seals" and you should find more than enough information.

 

Yeah, it's pretty easy. Getting them to seat properly is the worst part. Marlin has an axle seal with a lip on it that is suppose to ease that burden though.

 

Also be very careful not to damage the axle housing surface when removing the old seal. A big set of pliers worked well for me. Use a pair that allows you to get a good grip on the seal and yank it out. Also, those Marlin Crawler seals only work in axle housings on trucks without ABS. I was out of luck there

 

I just did mine a few weeks ago and I was actually surprised how easy it was. I went to napa and bought a seal puller, big spikey nasty lookin thing and it was kinda hard to used, but seemed to work ok. I had trouble reseating them too and even tried freezing. What worked best for me was to get it lined up the best I could then very carefully install the axle again and start tightening all the bolts this slowly and evenly seats it into place assuming everything is flush when you start cranking.

 

there are two seals

theres an outer seal that fits into the bearing case then the axle and bearing get pressed in. You have to unpress the bearing and retainer to replace that seal. Then theres an innner axle seal that you can easily remove and replace once the backing plate/bearing case and axle are removed.

Then theres a third seal, its a large 0-ring that fits around the lip on the axle housing.

You need a SST to the bearings off ... its $200 to buy or about $40 an axle to have a shop do this work for you

Might as well replace the seals and bearings IMO.

 

I agree with Drew, I have had bad luck with leaking axle seals and everytime it has happened, the oil washed the grease out of the bearing and that's no good.

 

at how many miles on your truck are you seeing this rear axle seal leak?

 

I just found mine are seeping this weekend.. not enough to show but when I pulled the drums off for a brake inspection the shoes were "wet" .. truck has 169,000...

 

just thought i had the same problem with a "seal" took out the axle and whoa the bearing was SHOT.... the axle moved in circles... pretty bad. and pretty damn expensive, the bearing alone was like $58 and people are telling me i got a deal on it... plus you have to have a press to remove the old bearing and they used some special tool to press it off. PITA. if you are lucky you can find a used axle with a bearing on it already (if you happen to have a bad bearing) then just slide it in. if not then good luck, its not cheap...

 

that was the first thing I checked I pushed in all directions on the axle its tight.. I think its just the seal.. now I just have to find time to fix it...

 

I just had mine replace under warranty. My 4Runner drives so much better now, no more "thump" when you try to drive forward after it had been sitting for a while.

 

thump?? out of curiosity how does that make it thump? i get the "thump" when i stop at a stop light and when i take off i get a thump occasionally on a fast brake at the light. i can tell a difference when i grease my driveshaft it will stop for a long while.

 

Azusacanyonbogger, are saying that your seal was fine but the bearing was not and the axle was moving around so much that oil was leaking passed it?

 

this is a really easy thing to fix on the 3rd gen 4runners... here is a link to my write up of it, and the first part to get you an idea of what is involved

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/r...s-pics-110243/

 

and as long as you can find a machine shop to press off and on the bearings then yes, its a day job

 

i changed everything once i was in there since i already bought it but the seal looked okay. the bearing was just REALLY bad... leaked everywhere. maybe i couldnt hear it because of the tire noise but it was bad.. new bearing now and its good as new with no leaks..

 

its easy if you take it to a machine shop to have them press it. i was talking about doing it yourself on a press. not easy... had to borrow a tool from a toyota dealer mechanic and use it on my press.. didnt want to ruin that expensive ass bearing by forcing it in!

 

Some info here... <---- this is a link