DIY: How To Replace An Output Shaft Seal

Hi everyone, I would like to start my time on TW of right by making a pictorial on how to replace the output shaft seal to stop a common leak and TSB issue. Have to say I was surprised there wasn't already one!

Symptoms of a leaky Output Shaft Seal:


You will observe a drop of fluid on the underside of the silver housing and, depending upon severity of the leak, a ring of oil on the undercarriage from ATF slinging off the driveshaft.
On mine I had only observed the drop of fluid and can see only a very faint oil ring.

Supplies:
Seal Driver or 1/2" PVC Union
OEM Toyota Seal 90311-A0031
14MM Socket
Socket Wrench
Breaker Bar
Seal Puller
Torque Wrench capable of accurately measuring 27Ft/lbs
Nitrile Gloves (Unless you don't mind dirty hands)
Roller (is really nice to have)


How long it will take? 20 minutes with all supplies on hand.

Some people were concerned about spillage of ATF. I parked on level ground and only lost about 1/8-1/4 cup of ATF, which was mainly in the drive shaft tip that receives the splines.
However much you see yourself lose, remember that your fixing a leak here and it may have added up over time. Grab a quart of ATF from your local dealer and check the fluid level after performing this service.


We start off by getting all our tools localized and within reach, working under the truck can be a bit tight.
Block both the front wheels and put the vehicle in neutral so you can manipulate the driveshaft and transmission splines later.

I started off by loosening the bolts on the center support located at the middle of the drive shaft using my 14mm socket on a breaker bar.
Dont just take them out or the driveshaft could fall on you if it manages to disengage from the tranny.



At this time I placed a jack stand underneath the driveshaft as I had no idea what it weighed and preferred to work with safety.

I then removed the two 14mm bolts while supporting the driveshafts weight and allowed it to rest on the jack stand.



Next I lifted the driveshaft, removed the stand out of the way, and then slowly drop the center section while supporting the tranny end and guiding it out and off the transmission spline end. Be aware a bit of fluid will be in it so don't have anything directly beneath this area besides a catch pan.



This is how much fluid came out of mine.





And this is the housing of the output shaft seal area, it looks pretty grungy so I will clean it out later before reassembly.





Here, I am using the seal puller to work out the old seal. I found it best to gently work 3 areas to evenly pull the seal. If you dont have a puller go buy one for $7, its no worth scratching the tranny area with screwdrivers and whatnot which could lead to future leakage and its a tool you'll use alot.


POP, out it comes. This is when I cleaned the housing area so that during reassembly we dont get any gunk in the tranny or driveshaft



Here's what the old seals backside looked like, you can see its one lip.



And here we have the new OEM seal, it comes pre-greased, which you can see has a double lip.



I dipped my finger in a very small amount of atf fluid and lubed up the sides of the new seal, then I pushed it into place with my thumbs on either side making sure it seated evenly.



I found that using a piece from a 1/2" PVC union worked perfect for a seal driver, deliver precise taps working around the edge of the PVC piece to evenly seat the seal.





Here it is seated into the tranny.



Just lift the driveshaft the same way you removed it and try to connect the end to the splines. If it doesn't go on with a little nudging then set it down and rotate the tranny splines a little bit with your hand and try again. Grab your jack stand now (it is within reach right?) and support the drive shaft with it.



Then grab your 14mm socket and wrench and get the bolts about halfway on, you can then remove the jackstand.
As I snugged down the bolts I tried to center the shaft and center support as much as possible before torquing to 27Ft/lbs.



And your done!
Now add a bit off ATF to the tranny and do a overflow test to make sure your topped off.
You can find the process detailed at the end of this ATF Drain & Fill thread:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-drain-refill-automatic-transmission.63851/

I hope this helps some people out!
-NorCalTRD

 

subbed. great write up and welcome to TW

 

Nice write-up.

Welcome to TW!

 

Great write up !!!!
Did you find out why the seal failed ?
That output shaft bushing looks weak . How much up an down play is there in the driveshaft yoke where the yoke fits in the tailshaft ?
Darn Toyota,s and their driveshaft issues tearing out the tailshaft bushing huh
Hopefully the rear tailshaft seal was hard as rock and no longer capabale of doing a good job of keeping the fluid inside the transmission .
Was the slip yoke all scratched up ? might be time for a speedy sleeve

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone

Grearcruncher - I jsut purchased my truck used so Im not sure why it originally failed, it wasn't that bad of a leak but when I get a vehicle I get a tad OCD making it like new so that I know Ill get the longest life from it. Also, this seal is a Toyota Service Bulletin issue so its something thats fairly common and why they upgraded to a double lip seal.
Im not sure what you mean by a weak outputshaft bearing, do you mean the silver ring that the seal seats in to? If so it would appear that someone less gentle than me has replaced the seal once before and decided to use two hard pulls with their puller rather than gently work it out which left two distinct marks but should not affect performance.
There is absolutely no play in the yoke when it is fitted onto the driveshaft splines as the driveshaft tip slips about 5-6" deep on to the splines.

I have driven about 25 miles and have seen no indication of the leak returning, hopefully it stays that way!

 

update - still no leaks!

 

Good job on the wright up. Seals are lot easier than people think but easy to screw up putting in the new one.

If you don't have a seal puller use the old cheapo method. I used to do this a lot and it works well. And when i say a lot I mean once or twice a month for 10 years.

Take an ice pick/awl put at side of seal and tap a hammer until you make a hole in the side of the seal. Then take a screw and screw into hole until you get a good bite on it. Then depending on the shaft coming out the oil seal take a claw hammer and pull out he screw like pulling out a nail. You might need a spacer to put between the hammer and shaft and use a longer screw if needed.

I had access to lots of large different size sockets and i used them to tap the new seal back in. Or if the shaft does not poke out you can use a piece of wood.

 

tanks Sean that was a nice write up

 

awesome write up...ive had a leak for a while and have the part just havent changed it out yet

 

Subbed! Thanks for a bread write up.

 

Funny that you mention this method, I actually tried drilling a screw into the seal and it turns out the main body of it is made of a very strong metal. I couldnt get the screw to bite into it, so thats when i went out and bought my seal puller lol!

Thanks for the feedback everyone, Im glad that the write up is going to be useful!

 

Awesome write up!! I did this today and it took no more that a half hour... Thanks!

 

Great tutorial, I am going to attempt to do this today after it warms up. Have all of my tools and parts and ready to go.

 

Notes from my seal replacement.

1) Get the seal puller. I tried to get the seal out on my own and after about an hour i jumped in the wifes car and went to Pep Boys to get the puller. Got back home and got the seal out in about a minute with the proper tool that NorCalTRD advised to use in the opening post.

2) The schedule 80, 1/2 inch union that I purchased from Lowes was smaller than the one NorCalTRD used so I brought the old seal with me this time and it matched up almost perfectly with the schedule 80, 3/4 inch union they carried. Probably just a different brand issue. Easily tapped the seal into its seated position with this piece.

3) For me the shaft was a bitch to get back onto the output gear. Took me a while until I tried gripping both hands around the collar on the shaft and guided it onto the gear.

I will update how the new seal holds up later.

 

It was difficult putting my seal back in too... its been about 5k and still holding up pretty well.

 

New seal in-hand; I will be doing this next week. Great write-up, thanks!

 

Thats good. Hope mine does its job. I'm tired of that one drip a day spot in my driveway.

 

Guys I hope you don't mind me posting this here but I had the same problem with my seal leaking and this is what happened today...

I took my '05 PreRunner with 147,000 miles on her in to get PM services done and they said my Output Shaft Seal was leaking and needed to be replaced...$400! So I told them to go ahead and do it, I am a pretty handy guy and I would have done it myself but I just don't have the time. While I was talking to the mechanic which he was foreign and hard to understand he told me that I need to watch that seal to see if it starts leaking again...because he said that the angle of the drive shaft is causing pressure to be put on that Shaft Seal basically because the truck is made to carry a load which with a load will press the suspension down and therefore the driveshaft more parallel to the ground thus no pressure on the Shaft Seal. He then told me that if it starts leaking again I will probably need a whole new drive shaft...$1500! So I asked him how much more milage I could get out of that shaft before replacing it and he said 20,000 - 30,000 - 40,000 it is really hard to tell. So, I guess I am kinda miffed about the driveshaft deal and was just wondering if any of yall have heard of this problem on this particular driveshaft and any information that I could gain from yall on this.

 

Welcome to TW... I haven't heard anything like that, but I imagine the seal does wear considering its location and what it does. Mine started leaking at about 45 or 50k so at 147k, I assume it would be a normal repair. I would get a second opinion before paying for a new drive shaft or even to have the seal replaced again at $400. Thanks to the OP, This was one of the simplest and cheapest repair I have ever done (cheaper than air filter). Took me no longer then 30 mins from start to finish and the seal was only a few bucks from the dealership.