Alright, noticed my rear axle seal was leaking yesterday while parked out side. Im debating if i should just replace the seal on the one side or do both? Then see if it holds, order a MC rear axle rebuild then do the bearings on the axle shaft. What should i look for play in the rear axle bearings? up/down, side to side?
I do have a complete spare axle, but i dont remember if the bearings were good or not, ill have to check.
any advice would be great!
Who's gotten away just replacing the seal and having it last?

 

haha oh wow, so i take my one axle off, lay it on the ground studs down. thing has 3/4" of play. So i ran over to my spare axle that i have alying around, pulled the axle shaft out of that and it has little to none play... pics soon!

 

Yeah, that play's a bad sign. Better see MC for some seals soon too, if not with the bearings as well.

Personally, I wonder which last longer, the bearings or the seals?

I've been through 3 pairs of bearings, and roughly that many axle seals(& a few pinion). They seam to go around the same time on mine. I'm pretty hard on my rig altogether though, it's kinda tough for 'em to keep out all the mud I get into.

 

When the bearing goes it allows more play in the axle so the seal gets 'rounded out'... that seal will not 'usually' go on it's own. Sometimes if the breather gets clogged the pressure will release somewhere.. and that somewhere can be the axle seal..or the pinion in some cases.

I would put the spare axle in and the $10 seal and hope it works... b/c changing the bearing is a pain in the a$$ I just did it last month...

 

yea, im pretty sure itll hold until i can order a marlin heavyduty kit. The spare axle looks flawless, bearing has no play, nice and clean. Compared to haha. i took videos and pics and im uploading them as we speak

 

Should be little to no play at all. Honestly, if you got the diff drained to do the one axle seal, You may as well do the other side while you're in there. It's only 2 ebrake bolts, a brake line, and 4 other bolts at the flange.


MAKE SURE YOU REPLACE THE 0 RING TOO, NOT JUST THE SEAL ITSELF!!!!. If you can't find anyone that has the O ring in stock, you "can" FIPG it in there. I just wouldn't recommend this only because the next time if you ever have to pull that axle out again is gonna be a real muggafugga. For all intents and purposes though, it'll work fine.

 

oh i know, i bought two inner seals today. i plan on using both spare axles. Yea, i took my old oring out and cleaned up the lip because it was nasty. I took the way better condition oring off my spare axle i plan on either putting on fipg or just leaving it?

 

when you mean fipg it.. like, put some under the oring and push the oring into it? or sandwhich it in with a layer on top and bottom?

 

I'd recommend getting the right o rings. Like I said, you "CAN" fip it, however if you have to gank that axle back out again it'll be a real bitch. You gotta remember, fip turns basically into glue. From the dealer, those O rings list price is like 2 or 3 bucks each.

Also I'd stay away from aftermarket axle seals if you haven't already replaced them. The outer collar on the Toyota ones is made of metal. All the aftermarket ones I've seen (including the ones I took out of my 4runner) the coller was like plastic or rubber. Those just don't hold up very long.

 

I was basically saying that you "could" omit the o-ring and make your own "fip o-ring". Personally, I'll spend the 3 bucks.

 

Yea i got oem seals, thing is they only have 1 ring.. best bet would be i need to wait 3 days for another ring..
what if i just used the ones off my spare axle?

 

what about reusing the orings with a little bead of fipg behind it or ontop?

 

First thing I'd try would be take one of the old o rings to your parts store and see if they have anything they can match up to it. An o ring is an o ring be it for ford, vw, toyota, chrysler, whatever. If you can find one the right size, go for it. If not, you could reuse your old orings if they aren't all beat up and deteriorated. They are a part that most dealers will stock though, so I'd do a little calling around and see if anyone local has a pair of them on hand.

 

Alright, ill see what i can do. I gotta run to my friends part store to get gear oil after work, but yea, ill see what i can do.

 

Little update, got my passengerside done but ruined one of my new seals.. must wait until monday now..