I got a puddle of grease on my driveway and all over my back right wheel and hub... I can only imagine it's a seal or bearing that's gone out but could one of you guys either give some thoughts to this or point me in the right direction. Searched for a while but couldn't find any solid information. Thanks

 

It's not the axle seal leaking down your axle?

 

Rear axle seal leak and that's gear oil, not grease. Common problem well documented on 3rd gens.

:wabbit2:

 

It is either a hole in your axle housing or an axle seal. There is a seal inside the axle tube then the bearings and then a dust seal. There is also an O ring at the end of the axle tube. You can have oil leak from a clogged breather or too much oil (this is what caused mine). You will need to replace the inner seal, bearings, dust shield and brake shoes. Why the bearings? Because the oil has flushed out the grease and they will burn up with just oil in them. Why the brake shoes? With that much oil leaking, the shoes have absorbed some oil and you cant just clean them off. Speaking of cleaning, Spray a lot of brake cleaner on everything in the brakes. ONLY use OEM brake shoes. Aftermarket shoes can cause a tightening/heat problem.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-ge...d-3rd-gen.html

 

Alright well this sucks.. What's the risk driving on it for a little bit. I don't have any amount of free time that this is gonna take to fix myself. Ive got it scheduled to see my mechanic tomorrow morning so we can look at it and go from there. Thanks for the info guys

 

You don't want to drive it for several reasons. First if its just a seal and you drive it the lack of gear oil will damage the bearings really quick which is expensive.

Also the gear oil has contaminated your brakes and your going to have greatly reduced braking on that wheel.

I have friend that just went through the same thing. He kept driving it and putting gear oil it in. But he didn't keep up with the oil and it tore up his bearings.

FOG

 

I think the bearing is already shot.. Its makin a lot of noise and I can tell it's clearly coming from that side. I can also take the tire and yank on it back and forth and it will pop sometimes. I know for a fact the shoes are toast as well as the seal, just dunno for sure bout the bearing. I'm gonna check my diff breather later tonight and see If it got clogged up and caused all this or If it's just normal wearand tear. Regardless, if it's all the above I'm prob lookin at 600+ price tag if the shop does it.

 

Sorry to hear this has gotten you too-here's an excellent write up from the T4R site:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-ge...d-3rd-gen.html

Yes it is a bit over $600 for one side at the dealership. May as well get both sides done while at it. In theory a do it yourself type job. Beyond my skill level....

good luck Jwaldz

 

Hey your costs shouldn't be so high. I had the same problem your having to the T. All you need to do is remove the wheel/tire, brake line from back of hub, remove brake drum, brake pads, e-brake cable, and remove the four nuts holding the axle in place. When you remove the axle you can check your bearing by feeling it when you rotate it, if it feels like there is sand in it grinding then its shot. The O-ring should be ok if it is round. So simply replace the inner seal and the bearing if shot along with the break pads, and put back together. I am no mechanic and I did this in an afternoon to both sides. You dont need to pay a overpriced mechanic, find some how to's on Yotatech and you can follow step by step. Have confidence in your self, you will feel great saving all that money a shop would charge. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

I can't imagine that separating a bearing from an axle shaft and pressing on a new one (possibly including a new ABS tone ring) could ever be described by a non-mechanic as "simple".
I thought I had bum wheel bearings and I was planning to remove my axles myself and bring them to a local transmission shop that has a press.
An hours worth of labor at the shop and the rest of the job should be within the realm of any shade tree mechanic.
But really, this is one of the most discussed topics on 3rd gens. We don't need to start yet another thread on the subject. The search tool will answer any question you have in full color step by step fashion.

 

i have connects at dealership so mine was only about 200 bucks including parts.

need new bearingS, sealS and appropriate washers etc.

must have dealership do it since they have all prop tool and race bearins pullers...

good luck to a speedy recovery!

 

If you have ABS, you will have to have a shop press the bearing, skid control rotors and shims.
I found a napa shop that saved the skid control rotors (new about $50 each). All total, plan to spend about 300-400 in parts, new bearings, seals, brake shoes, etc. and about $120 in labor (bearings) and several hours on your own.
Good luck.
Check my repair out starting at post 116
http://forum.ih8mud.com/ga-georgia-c...ld-pics-6.html

 

Well checked the diff breather lastnight. It's clean as a whistle and works fine. Guess it was just from wear and tear. Just got it out of the foreign car shop. Had them look at it and try to give me some better details. Seal is def done for, bearings looked fine. He didn't look at the breaks but said from the amount of oil prob need to be changed.

Not necessarily worried of doing it by myself, I just have no time at all during the week and very limited time during the weekends. I've got a local guy that can maybe help me that's done it before. So that will def. shorten the time it takes to do it but he's not sure yet. I'm picking up the parts from the dealership tomorrow regardless cus if I don't end up doing it, the shop will still use the parts. Thanks guys for the links and help.

 

I would definitely do the bearings as maintenance if your truck has over 150K. There is no saving the rear brakes on that side, once you get virtually any gear oil on them they can't be cleaned well enough to ever work 100% again so you'll have to replace em.

 

Huh, I guess I just got lucky then it wasn't really that hard to do skid! And if we see a thread that looks like a duplicate or something that does not belong should we all jump on it. Or would it be better to just watch it get bumped off the main page.

 

i know it's probably a duplicate thread. When I posted I was on my phone and searched through google for about 15 minutes. After finding nothing I posted. What it comes down to is personal experience. I was asking for suggestions as well and I could have jumped on another post and started from there but couldn't find anything at the moment. If a mod feels the need to delete or combine it doesn't matter.

On an other note.. I ordered the Marlin Crawler rear axle kit which comes with bearings and seals plus other items. Was a good price too. Figured I'm not paying the shop to do it and cost me a grand so I'll just wait till next weekend. I just didn't have the time to do it this weekend. Maybe with the help of another person we can knock it out in no time. Just sucks not having your own ride.