Is this a broken rear axle seal?

I completely agree, that much work with the tools involved is worth outsourcing. I was just wondering if they labor was listed at dealership rates. I'm hoping my guy can help me out since he's local. I thin his rates are around $45/hr.

Fingers crossed this won't kill my wallet.

 

What I meant was I would use it once and it would take up space after that.

 

https://www.pierceytoyota.com/service-department/

they took care of everything. Only service department I will use if I want toyota to do the work. One of the larger dealers here in my area, also one of the better rated serv departments.

understood and agree. Never know though, that tool could come in handy. Mod Day group tool?

 

I know Piercey Toyota. Thanks.

 

If you check in with them, ask for Raymond. Just did an alignment yesterday after installing my OME kit and he is my go-to Serv Advisor there. Used to own his own shop in Hayward. Anyway, cool guy. Also, if you bought your parts already and they are Toyota OEM they will use them.

If you are in the area and need parts, they are very close to Camelback in price. You can choose to will-call them. Be aware though, if you use their Serv department, their cost on parts is higher than if you ordered them through their parts site. Yeah, I gave their Serv manager crap about that one.

Good luck with your repair.

 

Yeah, I already bought all the parts (OEM only!). Piercey is giving you a discount on parts? I have asked them for years to set up an ecommerce site and/or give me a counter discount and they have refused. I was just in there the other day and used their monthly 10% counter coupon to buy 3 gals pre-mixed coolant for my timing belt project. Fremont Toyota briefly offered a 30% discount when they first launched their ecommerce site. So, I have been buying parts from Toyotapartsbarn or Camelback.

 

Nope, no discount for me lol - i wish. If you check the parts on their site (https://parts.pierceytoyota.com/) and compare to camelback, most are very close. Piercey is slightly more but when you factor in shipping from camelback (which is already cheaper than anyone online) and take into consideration how quickly you need the part, Piercey can be the better choice. For nearly all of my orders from Gunny, always 3 days typical ship time if not a little longer depending on when I place the order. Piercey is right down the freeway and if they have it in stock, choice is clear.

So for the rear axle seal for my 02, Piercey has it listed at 12 bucks. Camelback is 10. If I were doing the job myself and they had it in stock, I'd pick it up from them and happily pay the extra 2 bucks rather than wait for 3 days. Again, only good if you're local. Camelback is still the best.

 

If anyone is looking for a bearing puller tool, and doesn't have the tools/skill to make their own, I bought this one on ebay and it worked great. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Toyota-4Ru...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
It's way cheaper than the durasolid one.
Worked great with my Harbor Freight press.

The beat on the ground method did not work for me, so I decided to smarten up and do things the right way.

 

Dealerships and independent shops charge a lot for this repair and screw it up a high percentage of the time. A Harbor Freight Press is affordable and you can use it for lots of jobs. I've used it for numerous rear axle seal jobs but I've also used it to press out front wheel bearings doing a couple manual hub swaps, front upper control arm bushings, and rear upper and lower control arm bushings. With all these jobs, I used the press sleeve kit I bought on Ebay. The Dura Solid tool is a very specific tool, but would you rather gain a tool or give your money to a shop. When you're done with the tool, you could always sell it on Ebay at a discounted rate and get some of your money back.

Trust me Dudes, shops F*ck this repair up all the time. If you do it yourself, you at least know it was done right. I guarantee you there are dealership mechanics that don't even know Toyota redesigned the axle seals some time in the past and will not get a good mating of the axle seal and inner retainer.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/AVhSDnw2ugo

 

Yep, I remember you mentioning it in your video - and honestly, hell - in a perfect world, I would pay you 1200 before I EVER paid a dealer service dept. But hey, this is life and I know time is extremely limited. If it fails in the next 12 mos heading straight back to Piercey. If it fails after that, I'll touch base with you and at the very least, perhaps you can walk me through any serious pitfalls. Said it before and I'll say it again - your videos rock, you and Shawn keep putting them out there.

 

In a few months, lift the rear end, take the wheels off and pull the ABS sensors out. Turn the axles while looking into the ABS port at the ABS tone ring. If you see gear oil on the ABS tone rings, they didn't get a good mating of the seal and inner retainer. A botched job like this will be undetectable for quite a while until enough gear oil builds up and finally makes it into your drum brakes or gives you the tell-tale splay of gear oil on the inside of one of your rear tires.

 

2002 with NO ABS hence, no ABS sensor to 'pull' and peer through the little window

 

In our Non-ABS Axle Seal video, we pretty much prove you absolutely need to flip the orientation of the retainer (bevel facing the bearing rather than facing the seal) to get a good mating. I sort of doubt the dealership would have flipped the retainer. So, your seal is barely riding on the polished shoulder of the retainer, right next to the bevel. With some time and bearing play, the seal will end up riding on the bevel and prematurely fail. Ideally, this repair should last you for at least 100k miles but most likely longer. With the seal lip riding closer to the center of the polished shoulder of the retainer, you have more room for bearing play as the bearing wears over time and so the seal lip will never come close to riding on the non-polished bevel and cause a premature fail.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/vW25hvODHcs

 

Yep, that was the first vid I watched. Then your With ABS one as well.
All I can do is at this point and periodically check to make sure my axle hasn't pissed all over the backside of the wheel/tire. Thx for the heads-up.

 

So does the bearing absolutely need to be replaced if it doesn't have play?

I will also change out the brake shoes since they're cheap and seemingly simple to change.

 

DAMMIT, doesn't work for axles with abs tone ring...

 

Just buy the Dura Solid tool. Like I said in an earlier post, you can always sell it later and get most of your money back. Or, you keep it and help some other dudes out with this repair and charge them a little for your time and the tool will be paid for. For a while there, I was charging dudes $200 for this job which included doing the rear brakes but I got tired of wrenching so much in my garage so I stopped doing it. EVERY 1st Gen Tacoma and 3rd Gen 4runner on the road is eventually going to have a rear axle seal failure. It's inevitable. Just pay attention to the ABS video where I show how I altered the tool to make it work better.

 

I actually plan to keep it seeing as I have multiple toyota's in the family that will require axle seal and bearing replacements later on. I found one that claims to work on multiple toyota's, just waiting for priority and to see what else is offered out there.

 

Darn it. That was my next question - whether you would mind if I swung by and we could bang this out.

 

I'm going to be busy until the first week of September. If you haven't taken care of it by then, hit me up. I might be willing to do another one.