Squeaky Penguin's (Trip Reports) Build Thread

I just replaced my rear wheel bearings and seals last summer, and I too have the ABS rotors without having ABS. I left them off and haven't had a problem. Just something to think about if you want to save a few bucks....

 

Hmm, curious how that would work out. Did you measure to get the furthest in retainer in the same spot? My understanding is that is what the seal rides on, so the placement of that retainer seems extremely pertinent, and is somewhat dependent on the ABS tone ring.

No point in saving $70 if it results in problems down the line.

Oh, and my little project for the evening.

 

Cleaning those nasty carpets may take longer than one evening.

 

I just cover them up with floor mats. Out of sight, out of mind.

 

Yes, its very important you get the retainer in the correct spot, or you will have a leak. I measured it out, and once I had the retainer on i greased the seal and installed the axle. Give it a couple spins and pull the axle back out and check the retainer for the wear pattern. Kind of a pain, but I haven't had any issues. Hope that makes sense.

 

Hey Mr P, long time.
There is no need to reinstall the tone ring if you do not have ABS. All e-locker rears come with the ABS provisions.

The placement of the inner retainer is critical and recording the placement of the original should be considered a "ballpark". Depending if your truck came with the new or old style seal will be relevant as well as any deformation of the seal at installation. I install the inner retainer a little inboard and check the contact point against the installed seal. Then adjust as necessary. I put "Magic Marker" hash marks across the surface of the retainer. The lightly lubed seal will wear thru the marks with a few turns of the shaft and very accurately show the contact point.
Equally important is to check that the retainer is square to the shaft, they can go on cocked. Correct any wobble with a brass drift and hammer. If for any reason you need to move the retainer back inboard, a single hook on a slide hammer will do the trick, one side then the other (gently) and you can "walk" it back. This of course is if the tone ring is left off.

Checking the retainer for wobble with an improvised "go/no go" gauge. Numerous other ways could be used.


"New" seal vs "old".
Around your year Toyota upgraded the seal and the "lip" is now further inboard. Obviously this has a bearing on where the retainer is placed. It really becomes an issue when the seal is driven in too hard and gets deformed, this can effectively move the "lip" even further in.

New seal on left, old on right.



If you want to fab a press fixture make sure the hole/tube is on the heavy side of 3.75" (diameter of the tone ring) Correction, 2.75". This will allow pressing off both retainers, the tone ring and the bearing at once. Assuming you remembered to remove the snap ring.
This fellow works perfectly. It was made from scrap at hand. The square tube will not rotate enough between the rails of my press bed for welded on tabs, hence the need for the (removable) splitter, so use round tube if you can.


The old tone ring welded to some stock, just happens to be the right size for a seal driver and contacts the seal at it's outer circumference, lessening the chance of deforming the seal. There is a service bulletin on this issue. More on that if you want.
The BINFORD ABS2000, with magna grip.

 

Your posts always amaze me. Consistently the most informative write-ups on this site. Really appreciate the info!

Looks like I'll ditch the tone rings and save $70. I need to remeasure when I get home, but if I remember correctly, the opening width on my HF press is only like 3.5", so I'm limited on how large of tubing I can use. I really don't mind cutting off the tone ring and retainers though if that helps me out. Next issue is that I can't get steel locally, don't know if I can make it to Craig this week, and by the time I head an hour that way I might as well head to Junction and have you help me. Need to see if the local junk yard has an old axle housing and how much they want for it.

Parts are showing up and I would like to knock this out this weekend. Read about the shade tree method of pounding the axle shaft down on a piece of wood, but skeptical of how well it might work and would also be worried about causing damage.

 

Well thanks but I did a boo boo. The tone ring diameter is 2.75" not 3.75".
A 20T Binford (HF) should have around a 4 1/8" gap.

 

I think I found my problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpEiD55d19Q

 

So who can tell me where you want the retainer to ride on the seal? First try has it is just outboard of the bevel.

Edit: FWIW I left it just a bit inboard of where the old one was, but I did notice the seals I removed were the old style.

 

Made an overly complicated tool that works. Have to unbolt the top of the press to get it in, but it's the best thing I could come up with given what I had on hand.

 

First try.



Left it inboard of the original location and it still wasn't enough. Had to bolt it up the the fixture and press it all back out. Was careful not to go too much the second time. Got it after a bit of guess and check work:



That was quite the job, although a lot of time was spent fabbing the press fixture and messing with it to get it to work just right.

 

Dang, nice work.

Hope mine don't fail during my ownership of the truck. I'll definitely be taking it to a shop for something like that haha

 

Looks good man. Definitely more time consuming than expected, but worth getting in the correct spot, and not having it leak down the road.

 

Attaboy, making tools with tools.

 

My fallback would have been taking the axle shafts into a shop and have them press it. Still would be slightly concerned about where they would set the retainer ring if they didn't have the truck though.

Guess you could just have them press it apart, and then put it back together yourself. I just used a piece of 2" HREW to tap everything back on. Worked pretty well.

Appreciate your help. Hoping the fix holds up for another 262K miles.

Couldn't have done it without the welder. Really nice to be able to fab that up myself and get the job done.

 

Glad to see you worked it out.
It's not a bad idea to check for leaks after around 500-1000 miles and "now and then" after that. This is now a simple 10 minute task because you left the tone rings off. Just pull out the dummy plug for the ABS sensor and work a strip of paper towel down to the bottom of the axle tube, a "dip strip".

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep on eye on them.


Oh, and,



Happy to land a set of 5 blems cause I know I'll be messing them up anyways. Now just waiting for Discount to do their $100 off $400 deal again.

 

I want those same ones. Need to save some pennies

 

I wouldn't bother waiting if you need tires. Just find the lowest online price and get them to price match it. I saved more than $200 that way.