LEAKING REAR HUB/AXLE SEAL

[bur902]

Hey guys

Just had to take me 2010 SR dual cab in for repairs on a drive up from VIC to the NT.

The car had only done about 25k at this point. I was just pulling into alice when I noticed a oily burning smell coming in through the cab. Upon inspection, the front left diff output seal had blown. After pulling into the local toyota and conducting a quick check in turns out not only the front output seal had gone but the rear left hub seal had gone aswell.

Toyota covered it all under warranty, but I was just wondering if anyone has had similiar problems on a car of such low kilometres.

Cheers

[Wing]

quite unusual. I don't expect Toyota's seals to leak before two timing belt changes.

[tjd000]

dodgy diff breathers maybe, to much pressure build up and poped the seals

[jiggins]

I've just replaced one of my front diff output seals at 145000 km

[asmo]

My guess would be breathers
Follow the pipe up from the top of diffs and check em. or easy on the rear pull it off and blow with mouth to check it free flows air out

[Hiluxmachine]

My left front output seal started leaking at 60000 km, thought it may have been the diff angle..

[jakelux]

Ok i have had this problem for about 4 months and it comes and goes.
I started noticing what looked like grease pooling on my rear wheels about 3 weeks after i got both rear wheel bearings replaced for terrain tamer ones. Have taken it back to the mechanic twice and he's popped the seal on the bearings and all has seemed good. then a couple weeks later it happens again... more pools of grease (seems to thick to be diff oil).
It's only happening when i stop for a period of time or park it up for the night as there is never spray all over the place it just pools on the inside of the rim...
Any ideas...

[jakelux]

bump

[mow44u]

Leaking Rear axle Seal. You have to replace it when you pull apart the rear hub and sometimes it can be damaged when you put it back in.

Do you have an extended diff breather? if you dont this could be why it leaks...

[jakelux]

seals where replaced, extended breathers are blown out at least once a month.

[Steve9R]

has to be seals man.. and it def looks like diff oil to me..

if the seals were good then it wouldnt leak.. simple..

mind you if you have a bent axle or something it 'could' have movement in it and cause a seepage through the seal cause it isnt centered ... unlikely though..

Steve

[jakelux]

has to be seals man.. and it def looks like diff oil to me..

if the seals were good then it wouldnt leak.. simple..

mind you if you have a bent axle or something it 'could' have movement in it and cause a seepage through the seal cause it isnt centered ... unlikely though..

Steve

Bent axle was what i was fearing... but yeah pretty unlikely and i definitely can't feel anything. But without having an engineer look at it i suppose there'd be no way to tell.
Bushbound has the same problem and he is also running the Terrain Tamer bearings... coincidence..?

[amitch888]

Looks like you'll be pulling it all out again

[KTM525EXC]

Are the new seals genuine Toyota?

[Bushbound]

Bushbound has the same problem and he is also running the Terrain Tamer bearings... coincidence..?

Jake, as soon as I'm a bit more mobile I'll pull my axel out and measure up the seal, ring, locations etc to see what is wrong with mine but I suspect that the oil seal is not doing its job, allowing diff oil past and into the bearing, pushing the grease out of the bearing. Thats all it can be as there is no other grease in that area of the diff, I didn't put any extra grease in when I fitted the bearing.
If this is the case then its a fault with the bearing kits and I will approach the retailer for a refund - probably fit a Toyota bearing at the same time as I cant afford the time to muck about with it ----- or have it fail in the middle of the Anne Beadell in October.
From an engineers view, if the seal is leaking and allowing the oil into the bearing, this MAY cause premmature failure of the bearing as its a sealed bearing and pre greased (greased for life) at the factory.
JAke, if you want to pull your wheel and brakes off, I can bring over a dial indicator to check if your axle is bent, although I cant believe we could have both bent an axle about 5000 km ago --- but stranger things have happened.
Geoff

[Alby]

It may be coincidence as the SR and SR5 run different bearings due to ABS

[jakelux]

Are the new seals genuine Toyota?

Not sure, i wasn't present when the work was done.

Bushbound has the same problem and he is also running the Terrain Tamer bearings... coincidence..?

Jake, as soon as I'm a bit more mobile I'll pull my axel out and measure up the seal, ring, locations etc to see what is wrong with mine but I suspect that the oil seal is not doing its job, allowing diff oil past and into the bearing, pushing the grease out of the bearing. Thats all it can be as there is no other grease in that area of the diff, I didn't put any extra grease in when I fitted the bearing.
If this is the case then its a fault with the bearing kits and I will approach the retailer for a refund - probably fit a Toyota bearing at the same time as I cant afford the time to muck about with it ----- or have it fail in the middle of the Anne Beadell in October.
From an engineers view, if the seal is leaking and allowing the oil into the bearing, this MAY cause premmature failure of the bearing as its a sealed bearing and pre greased (greased for life) at the factory.
JAke, if you want to pull your wheel and brakes off, I can bring over a dial indicator to check if your axle is bent, although I cant believe we could have both bent an axle about 5000 km ago --- but stranger things have happened.
Geoff

Did you replace your seals with genuine? Do you have ABS?
Geoff are you able to check for a bend in the axle whilst still in the housing? I would of thought it would have to be out and on some sort of spinning alignment machine or something (bit of technical speak for ya there... )

It may be coincidence as the SR and SR5 run different bearings due to ABS

My understanding is that they are the same bearing but the SR5 has a retaining collar aswell...

[andy666]

The axle seal may be damaged
The seal surface on the axle may be damaged (can happen when cutting or pressing the old bearing off the axle)
It may be the incorrect bearing and seal kit
It may be melting the grease in the bearing if it's not hi temp grease

Best bet. Start all over again with genuin parts.

[Noidea]

I went through 5 (yes 5) sets of seals when mine started leaking slightly as well. Burned alot of cash figuring it out but turned out to be a bent axel and a bent housing as well. Both had to be straightened. Havent had a problem since. Also I tried putting the first set in myself, and while it was always going to leak cause i obviously hadnt fixed it by then I damaged the seals on the install so they are quite fragile.

Just a heads up

[jakelux]

I went through 5 (yes 5) sets of seals when mine started leaking slightly as well. Burned alot of cash figuring it out but turned out to be a bent axel and a bent housing as well. Both had to be straightened. Havent had a problem since. Also I tried putting the first set in myself, and while it was always going to leak cause i obviously hadnt fixed it by then I damaged the seals on the install so they are quite fragile.

Just a heads up

Thanks for the heads up mate, good to know someone HAS had a bent axle as i was thinking it was pretty far fetched.
Mechanic is gonna send the axle off in the next week or so...