I have a 2002 toyota tundra v8, 2wd @ 185k miles. Today I decided to check and clean my rear brakes. Passenger side was fine. Driver side drum was coated in gear lube. The leak must be small as the differential fluid level was fine and the fluid never made it out of the drum to the wheel/tire. The shoes will have to be replaced. I have read that when the axle seal develops a small leak (ie not blown) then the likely culprit is the wheel bearing starting to go out. Is this true with tundras? Does the wheel bearing need to be replaced now that fluid as gone through it? Advice?
Differential fluid leaking into rear drum
- Thread starter mikeinaustin
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@ about 200k, the wheel bearings are worn. They can wobble and cause more leakage at the seal.
Necessary? Tough call. Seals will probably cure the leak, but then keep an eye on it.
Necessary? Tough call. Seals will probably cure the leak, but then keep an eye on it.
For the work involved in replacing the seals, I'd go ahead and do the bearings too. You may as well.
The bearing is either worn or not, no use to replace a good bearing, inspect axle for wear cause by the seal. If bearing and axle are ok only replace the seal.
This is a common problem with 00-03 Tundra's. My 2000 passenger side axle seal started leaking about the same mileage as yours. Toyota came out with some updated seals in 2003 (TSB) that are more compatible with synthetic gear oils. So I decided to have both rear axles rebuilt with new bearings and the updated inner and outer seals. I think it cost me around $400 per axle. Make sure you use a competent shop with the proper bearing press, or you could end up revisiting this issue.
My (gone now) '73 LeSabre did the same thing. All it needed was to replace the seal, but in my case, you had to remove the press-fit bearing to change the seal. So I went with new bearings and seal.
On my Toyota, the axle has to be pulled to replace the seal...so the labor is nearly the same to replace a bearing as replace a seal....and in my case, at 230K, when the seal started leaking, it was the bearing at fault. It had given some warning, a very slight noise for quite a while before giving out.
Replace the bearing. It likely has to be pressed onto the shaft....
Replace the bearing. It likely has to be pressed onto the shaft....
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I don't know how your yota axle is put together, but if the seal is outboard of a pressed on bearing you will need to remove the bearing anyways. Removing bearings generally destroys them in the process.
I also have a slight noise that tracks wheel speed not rpm. Not a typical bearing noise though. I tried pushing and pulling on the wheel and did not find any obvious ply, but who knows. I want to replace shoes now but not much point unless leak is extremely slow. Can't get seal/bearing done until Wed.
Astro14, did you replace one side or both?
Astro14, did you replace one side or both?
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Passenger side went from noisy to leaking...driver side was still quiet and tight, so I did one side...and crossed my fingers!
Kestas
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When I rebuilt the rear axle on my Cutlass, I found the bearings were in excellent condition, but the seals were consumed. At 175K they had worn to the last bit of the helixes that were molded in.
What prompted the rebuild was a leaky pinion seal. Everything else was in healthy condition.
What prompted the rebuild was a leaky pinion seal. Everything else was in healthy condition.
so it turned out to be the wheel bearing making the noise. the seal was obviously leaking as well. i believe the noise started long before the leak so in this case i think the bad wheel bearing took out the seal, but who knows.
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