Rear axle seal problems..AGAIN

So a diff breather located to a location that will not corrode will solve all these problems.

I'm at the 3 year mark with my truck. Still no issues regarding the list of things you mentioned.

 

Did you ever figure out the answer to this?

I'm trying to figure out which parts to buy for my non abs elocker axle which I bought for a swap, but am unsure of what year it's out of. Definitely pre-03 since it has the ebrake cable over the leafs, but other than that how can I tell what bearing type I need?

 

Honestly, I don’t remember. I broke down and ordered seals and the bearing from CamelBack shortly after this post just to be certain. Nothing like OEM, right? Perhaps if you contacted Gunny, I’m sure he would have more insight. I’m not 100% certain but I thought the Elocker housing was the same whether it be from a ‘99 or an ‘04. With it being a non-abs but an Elocker housing, you will certainly have to get bearings that are compliant with abs, but you should be able to ditch the abs tone ring.

I’ve yet to replace it mine. I figured that if it was leaking, the damage to the bearing has already been done. So far, it still isn’t leaking much. I inspected it with the drum off not long ago and found very little if any signs of leakage, certainly not enough to get in the bearing or on the shoes. so I have yet to do anything further just because of the hassle I had already been through.

 

(for people who search in the future and find this thread...I know Timmy the Toolman has detailed videos for this job, but I thought it would be nice to have a printable step by step write-up to follow as well)

Just a heads up that I had to replace the rear axle seals on my 3rd gen 4Runner and 1st gen Taco - both in the last month. Required a few special tools, and of course the requisite parts, but was a reasonably straight forward job (full story).

Wrote up the list of tools needed, all the parts (with numbers) and a detailed step-by-step guide in a printable format here:

Step-by-Step Replacing Rear Axle Seal & Bearing w/ABS (1st gen Tacoma or 3rd gen 4Runner)​

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Quoting these 2 post.... this happened to me too !!!

1st time was aftermarket parts and labor $580 wasted down the drain
it hold up for about couple of years until I noticed the oil coming out of the wheel.

2nd time December 2018 Toyota dealership did the job
it hold up for about 5 months then I started noticing noise coming out that wheel

I took it back to dealership since was just 5 months of their repair... they couldn't mimic the noise ... took it to my mechanic and he made video of the issue... then back to dealership , ride with toyota tech whom did the job on Dec/18 and by turning constantly to the right we were able to mimic noise x5 times

3RD TIME Toyota Dealer hold my truck for about a week. re-ordering OEM parts. the damn seal that you mentioned failed and they did the whole job again under warranty , ( I have new axle in that area and whole list of parts installed Dec /2018 )

I drove to NM and Mexico, etc places ... about 3,000 plus miles,.... I have not check again the wheel with my mechanic but for sure I will do before end of November.

This axle seal job is a pita I got to pay dealer to do it right !
Hopefully 3rd time was the Champ .

 

it's a HUGE pita if its not done right from the get go! Since my last post in this thread I may have taken off taken off the drums once (trying to figure out a bounce under braking), but I do not recall seeing anything leaking. So for now, I am turning a blind eye to it and concentrating on other small(ish) issues

 

Excellent write-up @turbodb! Next time around (which will hopefully be a VERY long time) I plan on buying my own press and SST to press out the bearing and tone rings now that I have the space to permanently store a press.

 

I guess the ultimate flattery is somebody duplicating your work in another form. I've seen this done before where a guy prefers write-ups over videos. You obviously put in a lot of time to create this write-up and I guess write-up fans will love you for it. I prefer videos over write-ups and i guess that's why I have a YouTube channel and make videos. Write-ups are 2-dimensional and don't offer near the detail a video can. But, you know what they say, to each his own. Some like chocolate ice cream while others like vanilla.