My first front axle service in progress; got some questions

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Kernal

10 Year 15 Year
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Anyone who said this was a dirty job was wrong, it is a *&%&@#!! filthy job. The bazillion photos of birf soup we've all seen just don't hit home until it is pouring out on your own shoes. Took me about an hour to carefully get the rig in the air and supported with four 12 ton double locking jack stands and chocks before I took the wheels off and about four more hours to get one side apart. Most of that was cleaning and studying the parts as they came off. A few things were hard to remove, until I got out my BFH and 30 inch pry bar. The top trunnion/bearing cap was really stuck, no where near as easy to remove as in the DVD.

Here are a few things I ran into:

I can't get the grease seal out from the rear of the hub. It is an aftermarket piece made in Mexico someone put in previously. Tried using my Sears seal puller hook thingy a dozen times, no go. Any suggestions?

Found the usual groove on the long axle shaft where the seal rides; how bad is this and does the Marlin HD seal help seal axle shafts with a groove?

The spindle has some scuffing, is it good enough to put back in?

Photos of damaged trunnion bearings and races

(First photos show how I placed the jack stands and chocks)
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How bad is this spindle?

Next question is the DS spindle; it has some ?scuffing, any opinions on it's condition?
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Trunnion bearings toast

Found one trunnion bearing toast with one broken roller bearing and a few rough ones along with a rough looking race, the other bearing doesn't spin easily and it's race is worn uneven, like the race or bearing was installed crooked?? They look like the original parts. New bearings and races going in.
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Front axle shaft seal groove

Here is another of the axle shaft where the seal rides. I've read about the Martack trick, and IIRC someone tried a Speedi Sleeve on this once??

Also a shot of the hub seal I can't get out and another of the broken roller bearing from the trunnion.
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You can reposition the OEM seals slightly to get them out of the groove, so I'd say the Marlin seals will work the same way- they might even already be offset. I doubt the groove would prohibit a good seal unless it was really bad. Make sure it's smooth. The spindle looks fine to me, from the pic- but that means very little. The new bearing race needs to seat on there straight and not loosely.
 
Spike: I just called Marlin Crawler, they said their HD seal was designed to span the usual groove with one lip in front and one lip behind. The groove in my axle is sorta deep, can easily feel it with a fingernail. BTW: Chris at Marlin said Version 2.0 of their HD seal is due in within a couple of weeks and that it will seal even better than their original HD seal, wider with softer material.

The surfaces of the spindle where the bearing pack sits are not perfect, some slight surface imperfections that don't show up in the photos, but then the roller bearings don't roll on it do they, just the inner ring sits there, correct?? Also noticed that the 12 o'clock position of the spindle is smooth where the bearing back sits but there is a ledge at the 6 o'clock position, for both bearing packs?? Hard to show up in a photo. And then there is some (smooth) corrosion/rust mostly at 3 o'clock, tried 0000 steel wool but didn't help much.

Any suggestions on how to remove a stuck hub seal?
 
IIRC I was able to tap mine out, use a brass drift and get her out pretty easily. Anyone correct me if this is not the right method.
 
what does the sears seal puller look like?
 
Kernal said:
Any suggestions on how to remove a stuck hub seal?
Click to expand...

Beat it out? If you think you need something more than that, my old standby is heat. Proceed with caution, at your own risk, etc.
 
The Sears seal puller I tried looks like this, worked fine for the axle seal.

Spike or grizzlygibbs: how would I pound it out, the rear bearing is still in the hub?
Maybe just try to split it with a screwdriver??
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I am in the middle of my first front axle rebuild too. Try mounting your hub back up to your wheel to get more leverage and stability. PB Blaster or silicone around the edges wouldn't hurt.

I have the exact same wear grooves on one side of the spindle, as you described. So I will be tuning in to here opinions on that.

My thrust washers were beat up pretty bad too. I am replacing those.
 
SpankyPete: Yeah, forgot that, I also had grooves worn into both sides of a washer. Another thing that is obvious from the seal/hub photo; the moly grease had been pushed from inside the knuckle to everywhere. Mobil Red Synthetic grease was used last time the wheel bearings were packed, but it is solid black now. Noticed that the Moly grease was very difficult to completely clean out of the bearings, sticky stuff, so let them soak in a low odor degreaser I got at Walmart ($9 a gallon). That stuff also loosened up the old knuckle gasket making it easier to remove with a gasket scraper.
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If it's just the inner bearing/seal, you can place the hub back on the spindle and thread the spindle nut(s)on then pull the hub toward you using the spindle nut to push the bearing and seal out. I've never done it this way, but seen several do it on mini axles with success.
 
ardentyota; sounds like it might work, but would be concerned I might damage the spindle threads.
I have some FreezeOff spray, will try that next maybe along with heat and mounting it back on the wheel to get some leverage.
 
i would push the wheel bearings out and that should force the seal out. you might as well repack the bearings while you're in the area. use a brass drift. the marks you are talking about looks ok to me. just clean it up well. if i were you, i'd use all oem toyota parts.
 
lispeej: I have all new OEM Toyota parts, bearings, races, gaskets, seals, nuts, etc. Only things that are not OEM are the axle seals (Marlin HD) and the rotors (DBA 4000XS). Initially I was thinking of reusing the old rotors and bearings, but might as well put the new rotors in and use the new Koyo bearings that I have sitting in boxes. After I thought about it a bit the Timken bearings the PO put in over 100,000 miles ago don't feel as smooth as the new Koyo/Toyota bearings. Would still like to get that old seal out, but won't worry too much about damaging the old bearings now that I've made the decision to replace them.
 
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