GRRRRRR Pulled the rear drum at 70k to look at the brakes. No need to reshoe for a while and everything looked fine. However I felt behind the backing plate and got a film of oil on the fingers. Nothing is on the shoes so if it is the seal its early. Is oil behind the backing plate the first symptom of a blown axle seal?
Edit - Looked today in better light, The backing plate is not oily just dirty. Brake cylinder looks fine. The plate with the lug bolts is oily. Nothing on the shoes. A few pics
The shoes look OK but you can see stuff behind the plate and two pics with a better look at the stuff. Is this what the blown seal should look like?
The starnge thing is that it doesn't really smell like differential oil..

 

If is smells like gear oil then yes, otherwise it could be a slight brake fluid leak

 

My guess is it's just brake fluid if it's only on the backing plate.

 

Leaking seals would give you wet shoes and the drum and pretty much everything else below the axle level.

 

It does not smell like differential so maybe brake fluid even though it is black. It may be black from mixing with brake dust. Any thoughts on what to replace? I plan to get out and clean everting up and hopefully see where it is coming from - if it ever stops raining

 

A common problem and I encountered the same thing on my 99 runner a while back.

It's a messy full day job and it all starts with shooting brake clean on the whole area and cleaning the backing plates and pads.

Both of mine were leaking and looked bent and deformed.
You'll need a seal puller and you'll need a seal installer to do it right.
Using a hammer and anythiing other than a perfect round device results in
a bent seal.

Seals can blow out from pressure built up in the rear end.
Check that your vent isn't plugged up.

Less likely to be the wheel cylinder but just look at it.
If there's no wetness on the cylinder .........it's the axle seals.

Kenny S>

 

Could the axel leak be mistaken for a slave cylinder leak?

 

They would be on opposite ends of the vehicle....so.....hopefully not.

 

There's no brake cylinder in the rear?

 

Yeah, there is a cylinder in the rear... However, I hope Ghostrider has gotten the issue resolved since June 2007

 

 

I've just only ever heard them called wheel cylinders....slave cylinders are clutch components.