HELP! replacing rear axle seal in 3.4l limted 4x4 tacoma

the guy i recently purchased this truck from supposedly already replaced the rear wheel bearings in this truck within the last 20k miles but i am leaking diff fluid into my passenger drum very very slowly. was wondering if i could get away with just replacing my diff breather and rear axle shaft seal an skip the inner seal and wheel bearing? any extra knowledge helps thank you in advancement!!! truck has 251k miles on it.

 

Problem is the gear oil has leaked into the bearing washing the grease out. Or at least thinning it.

 

(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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what mileage did this have to be done at?

 

I'm at 124K right now. After getting regeared at 70K (not sure if that matters, but I've heard that folks who've gotten regeared are more likely to have rear axle seals go the first time).

 

We kind of are thinking that if you repack the bearing before damage occurs, you may get by with it.

The factory grease is shit anyway.

i did that to mine but don't have many miles to gauge success.

edit: argh. bit by an old thread.