2nd Gen rear diff pinion seal replacement DIY

REMEMBER this is for entertainment this is how i did it, what YOU DO IS UP TO YOU !!! I DO NOT want you to try this at home your truck will explode in to little pieces. I am not a mechanic nor do i pretend to be one i do not know your mechanical abilities or your judgement on what is safe or not. SO AGAIN DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME OR WORK OR AT YOUR PARENTS HOUSE take it to a PROFESSIONAL to have any work completed on your truck


So we have that over with


On my 007 Taco Pro the rear end diff pinion seal was leaking gear oil. Its time to fix this

Jack up your truck support with proper jack stands !!!! safety people safety !

Mark your drive shaft flange and pinion flange so it goes back the same way

Start with removing your drive shaft, two 14mm wrenches will be needed to remove the 4 bolts. I placed the 14mm on the nut side so it would bind up and i would not have to hold it, i then took a bigger wrench and slipped it over the open end to use for leverage. Once 4 nuts and bolts were removed I had to tap the drive shaft flange to free it from the pinion flange. Take drive shaft and secure up and out of the way, If this falls and hits you it will hurt !








I marked the nut in relation to the pinion shaft so i could count the number of rotations it took to remove, mine was at 12 rotations. I also measured the tread that is sticking past the nut.

The previous owner has taken this apart before as the nut has a lip on it that is meant to be staked into the slot in the pinion to remove this i used a chisel and a flattop screwdriver. This nut has a part broken out of it and i will need to order a new one




The pinion nut is a 30mm

I took the truck off the jack stands and put the parking brake on and blocked the wheels. With a bit of effort i got the nut turning to back it off. REMEMBER count the number of times you rotate it as it will need to go back the same.

Jack up and place on jack stands AGAIN

Make sure you have the flange marked and a proper way to reinstall the nut to the same location

I then used a harmonic balance puller to pull the flange from the pinion shaft, Inspect the flange shoulder that the seal rides on and remove any burrs.

once shaft is off a selection of pry bars and screwdrivers were used to remove the old seal











I cleaned up the area with brake parts cleaner and wiped it out. I applied hard grease to the outside of the seal housing to ease with instillation. I found that a electrical conduit joiner fit the seal perfectly, i used this to drive it in straight and flush. Applied more hard grease to the rubber part of the seal so the lip that contacts the flange would not be dry, I also applied on the splines of the pinion. I did this for ease of insulation & removal, once lined up with the correct marks i tapped the flange in a circular motion driving it back down. Reinstalling the nut counting the turns it requires to get it back to where it was originally, measure and once satisfied it is in the same location re stake the nut to prevent it from backing off. Reinstall the drive shaft.

I took this opportunity to change the diff oil


I hope this DIY helps someone as this is not a hard job and can save you BIG $$$ as in the repair and eliminating the chance of running your diff low on oil causing unnecessary wear and repairs

 

Man you do great write ups! And I see an improvement in the pictures quality. Did you changed your phone?

 

@Kemosabe thanks i write for my local TOYOTA group FB group but have decided to give it up as it gets forgotten. My plan is to do them on here and put a link in the local group. Not sure if people actually read them or find them useful but i guess we will see what type of response i get. No change in the phone just trying to take a few pictures of the same thing and pick the best one to use. Just a reg old outdated i phone with a crappy knock off cover ...

 

I think writing it on TW and then link it to the fb page is the way to go. It is much easier to find a write up here than scrolling a facebook feed for hours to find an old post lol

And the title you gave to your thread is good! Like this, anyone doing a google search on rear diff should find the thread easily.

 

Damm rust ate up your seal. Might want to consider spraying underside with oil to slow down the rust.

 

@Armkb yes where i live rust is a huge killer of trucks i coat everything with fluid film

This truck just got a new frame from TOYOTA so i am trying to bring the rest of it up to daily driver status

I added a bit more explanation to the DIY

If you found this useful or if i missed anything please let me know

For all sorts of DIY 007 Taco Pro build adventures and bs hit up my build

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/canada-07-tacoma-pro.527692/

 

@tcBob i sent you a PM

 

I forgot about this write up

 

Thanks for the info.

 

After seal replacement, I tightened the pinion nut up and tightened a little too far. Backing the nut on the pinion shaft to where it was, it’s not even hand tight now. Did I over crush the crush sleeve? Do I need to replace that now too, or can I just back the nut to where it as before and restake it?

(I went about 1/4 turn past original position.)

 

short answer is yes. You cannot go back as that will cause the preload to be too light, and will prematurely wear things out. Leave it where it is and hope the preload isn’t too high. In the future, get a solid collar vs crush sleeve and that type of thing will be a non issue.