Front Axle rebuild

[hpmhanse]

I'm currently rebuilding my axle and I let my brother in law who has rebuilt two axle's already pull the inner axle seal. In the process he managed to bugger up the outside edge of the axle where the seal slides in. Anybody have any idea of what trouble we got ourselves into?

 

[Kernal]

Geez; never seen one chewed up like that. In your other post it almost looked like there was some other damage around where the trunnion races/bearings sit; wonder if a birfield exploded or an axle shaft broke inside the knuckle before you got it?? The seal normally pops right out with either a screwdriver or a seal puller. Either way, the fix is out of my league, maybe a Dremel tool to smooth off the edges??

 

[60 toy ota]

howdy, i'm the brother in law. the other two axles were on a 60 and an lx450. this was different from the two because the burrs used to be a smooth lip over the oil seal that were holding it in. i thought it was the oil seal, i don't know if this could or couldn't have been avoided. it seems like the new oil seal (genuine toyota) is slightly bigger than the old one and wouldn't fit inside the race, but its hard to estimate as they're both buggered up. any ideas? my plan is to file/dremel till its smooth enough to fit the new seal in.

 

[ppc]

You need to use the proper tool:
Seal Puller w/2 Tips

I'm guessing you tried to use a screw driver.

 

[Kernal]

60 toy ota; there's no lip over the seal, the seal just pops into the recess in the axle housing. There's an aftermarket seal that has an extrawide lip, but that also just pops out by using a seal puller and levering it out from behind or a screwdriver by jabbing into the metal rim then prying it out carefully.

This is a link to a thread on the front axle service found in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/78276-front-axle-rebuild-faq.html

Here's a few photos; first shows where the seal sits and the second shows an aftermarket seal with a larger lip than the Toyota seal, is this what you found?? (the Toyota seal sits flush in the hole). Third shows a close-up of where the seal sits in the axle housing.

 

[Pin_Head]

Looks like the outside rim of the old seal is still in there.

 

[LINUS]

Looks like the outside rim of the old seal is still in there.

I was thinking the same, based on the separation "seam" that looks chowdered & peeled apart on the entire upper half - if your lucky, since that would clear up a bunch of the otherwise needed filing/Dremel work it needs.

 

[Kernal]

Pinhead, Linus: yeah, good pick up (need to wear my glasses more); it does look like the metal rim of the seal is still stuck in there, which would make more sense (why it's so chewed up; softer metal than the housing).

 

[jynx]

x4 on the old seal lip, I will be curious to see how that comes out now. Maybe a seal puller could get behind the remaining seal and pop it out. Be careful though because there isn't much material there and you could end up scratching up the seal surface if you aren't careful, and that would be way worse than what you originally thought your problem was.

 

[Kernal]

Either come from behind with a seal puller or maybe use a small sharp tool to carefully get under the remaining rim and push/peel/pry it back and up enough so that you could grab it with some needle nose pliers maybe??

 

[hpmhanse]

Figured it out!

That was it. The outer ring of the axle seal was still in the race. Used a sharp pointed pry tool and some needle nose pliers to get it out. Put in a new seal and it looks great. Thanks for all of the feedback.

 

[EricG]

You need to use the proper tool:
Seal Puller w/2 Tips

I'm guessing you tried to use a screw driver.

FWIW, that harbor freight unit is a POS. Mine broke the first time I tried to use it a few weeks ago - right where the screw goes through the shaft. Wasn't really tugging on it either.

 

[arndog123]

I have the same seal puller and guess I've been lucky so far 'cuz I haven't broken it yet.

 

[60 toy ota]

thanks guys, it took a while but we figured that out. weird though, we got a seal puller earlier
for this project on our other land cruisers, and i never really had any trouble until this seal. the other side came out just fine, so i'm not sure what was up.