Rear Axle Shaft Seal

Was rotating my tires yesterday to find my passenger rear Axle shaft seal is leaking.

Must have just started as there are only a few drops on the inner fender and overall it's not too oily

Of course its just beyond the warranty -42k

Anyone else have a seal go fail so early?

Also, dealership quoted $680 to replace.

Seems quite steep. Since I aim to do it myself, is there some 'trick' or special tool needed to justify the high dealer cost?

Or is thar quote just the dealer being typical?

 

I know you need a press and a way to fandangle it off and back on. There is a thread somewhere on here about it. If I find it I’ll throw the link up.

 

Is the only evidence of a leaky seal some oily substance on the inner fender?

Also I’m not sure what I should be looking at in your pic of the outside of the brake drum.

 

X2 . Im not sure where to look at also .

 

If it's the same as the older ones, there are 2 seal per side. The inner seal is not big deal, pull the axle and replace the seal. HF seal drivers would work.

The outer seal, is a total PITA and you will need a press and axle tube adapter to press the wheel bearing out. Most of the shops cut the ABS tune ring, too.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-rear-axle-bearing-seal-replacement.734924/

 

Was the $680 cost for the rear brakes as well since if its leaking the shoes are toast.

Check the axle vent to see if its clogged. If it is it can lead to exactly this result. And if its the cause you will be doing all this over again soon if you dont replace it.

 

If they are only replacing the seal inside the housing, that’s a lot of work for that. My guess is even if they do that, the problems will continue because over time the seal wears a pretty sharp groove in the axle bearing retainer collar. So they might end up needing to cut off the collar and press a new one on. And maybe that’s in their price, I don’t know, I can’t see the quote.

If they were doing the entire job of a new wheel bearing it would probably be more, because a bearing is $340 alone discounted, more like $520 MSRP, and then there’s the multiple hours of labor with a puller, press, and drum disassembly and reassembly plus brake bleeding.

Also, that is driveline, so you should be covered up to 60K if it’s a 2021 like your profile says….

 

By outer seal are you talking about the one that comes on a new wheel bearing? I don’t think those usually leak, but I guess it’s possible. In that case gear oil would have to go through the inner seal first, then through the bearing, then out that seal. Oil shouldn’t be in these types of bearings (washes the grease out and then they die), so if there any issues with that seal I think you’re talking about, there would likely be an inner seal issue to cause that to begin with.

If I had a leak I would probably replace the axle retainer collar and the housing end seal and then check the breather to make sure it’s breathing. If oil appeared to have contaminated the bearing then I’d probably do a new bearing too.

 

Yes it is a 2021.
I reckon I may have to call above the dealership to get this covered?

 

5 year 60k its covered.

Make sure the wheel bearing and all brake components are changed. We just did a 2022 today.

 

OP, before you spend a bunch of time and money on this, I think you should make sure the seal is actually leaking.

 

I can't imagine what else it would be.

Smells like gear oil.

The drum has a nice film of oil vs the other side which is dry as a bone and orange with surface rust from the lovely coastal air.

 

I personally would not suspect a failed seal until I inspected the seal. Oil on the fender could have come from the ground, to the tire, to the fender.

Your pic of the drum doesn’t look like an oil leak; at least not one I would worry about. I would need to see dripping oil to get worried.

 

So is this a common problem?

 

Not really common, but it does happen.

Often its the breather plugged. Get in the habit of checking the breather when you do your rotations.

 

Yah, it’s easy to tell by the smell. Like Bishop said, make sure you replace the wheel bearing and brake shoes as well because those components will be ruined once the gear oil leaks past the seal.

 

I reckon I will have to check. I did the vent relocate a few weeks after I drove off the lot. Haven't played in the mud or crossed an rivers. If it is clogged I wonder what it could be...

 

This is why i did the axle vent relocation. I don't think I will ever be up to the axle in water, i just wanted to avoid the plugged vent problem.

 

they still plug, I did two last year with hoses that clogged. Breather still good, hose issues. One routed to gas cap one routed to under the bed.

 

Not likely. I didnt just relocate the vent. It was replaced with the simpler two way vent and with its location behind the tail light it free from contamination.

And the thick wall silicone tubing wont degrade or collapse.

Another thing that may help is that I replaced the OEM gear lube with Amsoil Severe Gear 75W90. It is much less volatile and less likely to evaporate than regular Dino lube. This might limit the gear oil vapors that you have seen clog the tubing