Marlin Oil Seal Vs. OEM oil seal thread

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concretejungle

concretejungle

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I know this has been touched on a few times, but nothing that i could find in detail. If there is a thread, please link it and we can move forward from there...

I have done a few 80 series axle rebuilds in my time. The last one was my axle that i rebuilt shortly after getting my 80. The knuckles were just weeping gear oil out of them at the time and i knew a rebuild was in order.

I ordered all OEM parts from Cdan and slowly put everything back together. It held up with absoluetly no leaks for almost 100,000 miles before i decided to rebuild them again. This time i decided to use marlin's HD oil seals instead of OEM.

After studying them for a few minutes on the bench i installed them. Everything else was put back together with OEM parts and good quality grease.

Since that time i've put maybe 8,000 miles on the axle and i'm seeing diff oil leaking from the bottom knuckle studs. :censor:

I checked them on Saturday to make sure they are tight, and they are.

I have not opened up the knuckle yet, but this is WAY to early for the oil seals to be failing.

What is your experience with the Marlin HD oil seals? Are they truly an improvement over OEM or is OEM still a better option?

:cheers:
 
Mine have held up fine although mine is part time, are you sure it's not the grease separating?
 
i have them in my front axle. cuz the oem ones wore grooves in the axle shaft. they have done a great job so far but ive one had the 12 ooo miles
 
From what I've learned here on MUD "OEM" axel seals are "the ones" to get, because of just the issue you're having (failing early).
 
I had not seen that thread BJ71! thank you for posting it.

Well hot damn, looks like i'm going to be putting in new oil seals before the rubicon trip!
 
I put a set of the Marlins in my truck after having 2 sets of OEM ones fail in less than 10k miles each time.

Only about 500 miles so way too soon to tell.
 
Ugh... just when I think saving a buck or two might be good for me!!

What is thoughts or opinions on the Specter seals? I have searched for Specter, and SOR and didn't come up with anything specific..no news is good news right? The rest of the kit looks to be pretty decent and fairly inclusive for all required parts, if I have to buck up and get the OEM seals I guess its not the end of the world. Specter had it on sale, so I hope Im still ahead in the long run..
 
Yeah, I've heard nothing good about the Mralins, except they're different. Using them on a heavily grooved axle seems like the best app I've heard of so far. OEM is the way to go.

AlaskanLX450,
You're unlikely to find OEM parts in a SOR kit. They're all to spec, but usually not marked Toyota. Some may actually be from Toyota suppliers, but most are probably whoever makes 'em cheap in quantity.

Between OEM and the rest, it's a slight difference in reality, a bigger difference in price, and something you'll be cursing yourself for if you do your own work and see them fail quickly.

If you see two failures in a row of OEM check your shop procedures. Not saying it's an oversight of some kind in your work, but OEM is inherently reliable at Toyota, so odds of two bad ones in a row are pretty far out there. I know that these seals are a bit tricky having muffed one myself the first time around. Live and learn.
 
I've put over 10 on mine without issue. I had the issue described earlier where the OEMs had worn the axle shaft. The Marlins ride in a slightly different place. Anyway, no issues yet but not what I want to hear.
 
Marlins work great. The main problem is noone sets their rig up correctly. The total amount/thickness's of shims used, determins the overall knuckle preload. But where they are located (above or below) determins the knuckle/stubaxle/axles possition in relation the the seal. Meaning the same preload is acheived by putting all the shims at the top, or all at the bottom. But it raises or lower the axles possition. And if you think a few mm doesnt make much difference - it does.
 
We don't have the adjustment here in the US for shiming the knuckles. No one does that. And how can you argue about setting up an axle correctly when you replace everything just as it was and only change the inner oil seal and the fact that with the same setup I just ran over 100,000 miles on OEM?
 
Who's to say it was set up right before you replaced everything? These trucks are old and tampered with. There are lots of factors with 50% saying they are good. and 50% saying they are bad. Ive had no problems running either to be honest. But the factory ones are thin and flimzy during install. And it would be easy to damage them and knock the ring out.

Ps. Surely they sell and use king pin shims in the US. Ive seen them qouted and advertised on this forum before. Do you guys oil these seals before install aswell?
 
We only shim from the top cap, not like the toy minis that are shimmed from top and bottom
 
Messing with the shims seems like a recipe for something to go wrong. Very well could be the problem right there for some folks if that's part of the instructions. I leave them alone, but if exploring the fine nuances of steer axle geometry is your cup of tea, go for it. Not worth the potential trouble just to use a certain seal, if that's at the root of the reported issues IMO.
 
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