Axle Shaft Seal Leak?

[Cringe]

For the past week I have been faintly smelling...something...when I got out of the 470. When I finally crawled under there I could see on the passenger side some wetness and from what I can tell it is coming from the differential where the CV axle enters. Best I can tell there is some being flung onto the exhaust. The Toyota dealership I got my 470 from had replaced both of the axles not too long ago. I need to track down the receipts because I have copies they gave me when I bought it. What are the odds that they will warranty their work?

I am not holding my breath, so it looks like I will be getting my hands dirty this weekend. I have been reading so many threads that they all start to blur together eventually. I could swear I saw someone mention an oil filter socket being perfect to install the new axle shaft seals. Any idea what size the seal is so I could go try to scare up a socket? I only want to do this once, and since they are apparently easy to damage I want to minimize any chance of mistakes before I get to work.

Since this is my first Toyota, any suggestions on gear oil? I figure I may as well change it out while I am under there. I have some crush washers already in my cart along with the seal, I did figure that bit out on my own!

 

[GXO]

75w90 is what I use, synthetic. the axle seal is definitely the problem. You can order the seal from Toyota then carry it to get the perfect fit for the socket, or get a seal driver kit.

 

[Cringe]

I figured I should come back and update this. After ordering some tools that I somehow managed to lose during a previous move, along with some parts and fluids, I finally managed to dig into the repair. For what it's worth, I did call the dealership that performed the axle replacement a couple months ago and they offered to take a look, but I could see them trying to do everything in their power to say it wasn't their problem leaving me with a repair bill. That doesn't sit well with me, especially since I can do the job myself, so off to the garage we go.

This is what started this project, a leaky shaft seal.

The perspective is fairly screwed up because I was laying on my back when I decided to take the picture. This is on the passenger side and had made a bit of a mess on the skid plate already. I swear, finding information on these things is a bit like pulling teeth. Some people quote from a 4Runner manual, other people link to an FJ Cruiser manual, and at the end of the day I just really wanted to know the various torque specs for my 470! All I can do at this point is hope I got everything torqued good enough until I can get some real numbers.

This is also the point where I would like to complain about a few things, first of which are impact wrenches...or more specifically idiots with impacts. My wheel lugs were so tight that I broke the head off of my breaker bar, and then there was the second item I want to complain about...locking lug nuts. I did have the key, but it was also run down with an impact. If I had a flat I would never have been able to change it on the side of the road. Which reminds me, I still need to go break the other three loose.

On the suspension, the two lower bolts were also nearly impossible to remove. In researching this process online I notice people mentioning the use of some blue loctite when re-installing. After I bent my second breaker bar removing them I noticed a stripe of red on both of these bolts. I had some red, but I know I will have to take this back apart before too much longer so I grabbed my blue, and it was dried up. There is none on them at the moment, I will be taking care of that soon.

I rotated everything out of the way and pop the shaft out no problem. I got the old seal out and the new seal in with no fuss. Then I take a good look at the outer seal. This thing is a mess. I dug out a lot of metal shavings, a spring from the seal itself, and what looked like metal flakes. After wiping out the grease I gave it a real good look for any more bits of metal before putting everything back together. The first photo is mess I found, the second is most of what I dug out. To be honest, the photos were a bit of an afterthought during this process.

Before putting the axle back in, I put some grease on both ends as well as rubbing some inside the remnants of the outer seal. I am sure it has already flung out, but it at least made me feel a bit better about it for the moment. I will be ordering the replacement seal soon, I am just amazed that it was left like that. That's not to say that it couldn't have happened in the last week or two, but I highly doubt that since it doesn't get driven all that much right now.

I went with Mobil1 75W90 and had read somewhere that you only need 6 quarts to do the front and rear diffs along with the transfer case. Well, the rear took 3 quarts and a few pumps from a 4th. The front took nearly 2 quarts. I was left with a quart, and the inch or so left in the bottom that my pump will not pick up. So my transfer case did not get any attention. By this point it was getting late so it was probably for the best.

If anyone bothers to read this far down into the wall of text, can you point me in the right direction to get some torque specs? Also, blue loctite on anything besides those two bolts...or do they truly need red? I tried to look for a factory service manual on eBay and those that I found are priced beyond what I am willing to pay. Any alternatives floating around online?