I’ve been dealing with gear oil leak on to the rear brakes since I’ve owned this truck. I have had two different rear end shop try a repair and I’ve replaced the seals myself once before. But after a short time the brakes would always get contaminated again. I have wasted more brake shoe than I care to count.
Here’s my fix…I hope.
These are the parts for the repair.




I first tried removing the axle bearing by the slamming the axle down on linoleum. I saw this technique on YouTube. I could not get the axle to even budge and I think this method has a pretty high hack factor. I already have a HF 12 ton press so bought these McMaster-Carr items to make a press fixture that turned out to work really well.
Part # top to bottom.

68095K125
4457K119
44705K234




The aluminum flange at the bottom is needed because the top steel one is too thick to bolt on to brake housing. If I were to buy again I’d just get two aluminum flanges to save weight.
Here I’m about the press out the axle. The picture does not show the plywood at the bottom of the press to protect the wheel stud threads when the axle is free of the bearing. Also wide grade 8 washers are needed to mount the flange to the brake housing.




Here is the old bearing retainer. This clearly cannot be an oil tight press fit. This must be were the oil leak has been. I think this is the negative effect of hammering the bearing and retainer on with an iron pipe.




Even the axle doesn’t look so good. I was able to clean up the surface a little with some 600 wet-dry paper.




This is the McMaster-Carr part 45605K655 I used as a bearing driver. It’s intended for piping but fits the purpose perfectly. It makes a pretty good seal driver with a dead blow hammer too. I used a lathe to take the chamfer off the top. This seated on the bearing better while being pressed in.



Here’s the setup for pressing the axle on to the bearing. I’m not installing the retainer yet.



Being concerned about oil leaking passed the scoring on the axle I put some Permatex gear oil sealant on the axle.




The retainer pressed in place.




I like the Trail Gear oil seals because the OD sealing surfaces is rubber instead of metal for the OEM seal. This may or may not have contributed to the oil leak but I’m taking no chances.
I only have a few mile on this repair but so far so good. It certainly is not the cheapest way to replace the inner oil seal on the Toyota 8” axle but I think it is a good DYI method that doesn’t tearing things up. I’ll update in 6 months or so if this is a solid fix or not…time will tell.

 

Getting ready to do this myself, just waiting on the bearing kits from Marlin Crawler to arrive, should be here this week but will not be able to get everything installed till after Christmas. The bearings in mine are grinding pretty bad.

Like the pics you posted, very helpful. Not sure how I am going to tackle the press out press in job yet. Have the press but no jigs.

Cheers
Andy

 

Nice bearing tool you made. I have same HF press, I ended up buying a tool on eBay similar to what you made. I slammed my axle 2 or 3 times and then decided that was not going to work, so I purchased the tool. Plus I used the tool in reverse to press the new bearing on. What was total cost of pieces you bought? I think i paid around 150 for the one I bought.

 

Thanks...with tax and shipping it came to $115.25 for all the items.

 

btu44, how long & inside diameter is the piece of pipe you used for your jig/removal tool?

Dooh now I see your part numbers. Pipe is 2" diameter @ 18" long.

Cheers
Andy

 

So, parts list to replace rear bearings looks like:

1) Bearing
2) Spacer
3) Snap ring
4) Rubber seals

(plus the custom tools needed to press fit / remove old bearing)

Is there anything else I need ? I'm looking to replace my rear bearings and want to gather all the parts at the lowest cost.

 

Awesome idea using these parts to make a puller and driver setup!

Someone should "rent" this kit to YT members.

 

I found a rear axle service kit, cost alot less then if buy from pep-boys (wants to charge $150 for just 1 bearing)

https://www.marlincrawler.com/axle/r...ce-kit-1979-99

its a little suspicious, claims it services every toyota 1979 - 1999. That's a broad range of trucks to use all the same bearings and seals. I am going to call them on the phone before place an order, since I really don't want a surprise after everything is apart.

 

Marlin knows his stuff.
If he says it works - I don't doubt it.

Thanks to BTU44 for the pictures. Very nice.
Im probably due to do this...


Tho, to be honest, the REALLY expensive way to fix this is to convert to a Full Floater with a kit from Front Range Off Road.....

 

What is a full floater, and why would someone switch to that, how much more does it cost?

 

There is two styles of a "floating axle" they are semi and full. Semi floating axles are splined at the diff and have a bolted flange. Full floating have splines on both ends and have a protruding hub. That just about all I know. Full floating are designed for heavy weight and abuse. Often found on work trucks. In my opinion. Toyota 8" axles are strong. Anything is breakable, but I stand by my yota gear

 

if a rear axle shaft breaks on our trucks, what's left of the axle and the tire/wheel could go shooting off down the road, you'll be rolling on three tires. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/r...w-what-140792/

axle shafts can also bend, note the comments that roger made wrt his floating rear axle conversion: http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...html#DiskBrake