Oil on my wheel rim…

[kcjaz]

Just got back from a couple weeks in in Colorado over landing in wheeling fairly hard. Wash the truck and then noticed it looks like oil on my fake bead. Locker rims crawled under the truck and it looks like oil‘s being sprayed on the inside of the wheel.

I’m guessing it’s gear oil from the diff. I need to get the truck down to my shop which is 120 miles from my house wondering if I should make that journey as is or if I really should take it to a local shop?

 

[Sandroad]

You don’t need to guess about gear oil because it such a strong odor. Does it smell like gear oil? Maybe a bad seal ? You’ll know more if you remove the wheel. I don’t think it’s any problem at all going another 120 miles to a good shop.

 

[turbo8]

Just got back from a couple weeks in in Colorado over landing in wheeling fairly hard. Wash the truck and then noticed it looks like oil on my fake bead. Locker rims crawled under the truck and it looks like oil‘s being sprayed on the inside of the wheel.

View attachment 3955980
I’m guessing it’s gear oil from the diff. I need to get the truck down to my shop which is 120 miles from my house wondering if I should make that journey as is or if I really should take it to a local shop?

If it is gear oil, first check to make sure the axle breather isn't clogged. If it is clogged, it can allow high pressure to build up in the axle, which will push oil out of the seals.

If the breather is working properly, the seal probably went bad. Check the wheel bearing for play and parking brake shoes for oil contamination.

Pulling the axle out to change just the seal isn't that bad, but the wheel bearing requires special tools.
I pulled my axles and took them to a specialty shop to press in the new bearings and associated parts.

 

[linuxgod]

Do you have eLockers or air lockers?

 

[kcjaz]

Do you have eLockers or air lockers?

Air

 

[linuxgod]

Definitely check the breather. I recall @Taco2Cruiser had a similar issue where his air locker was blowing oil out a seal or breather.

 

[kcjaz]

You don’t need to guess about gear oil because it such a strong odor. Does it smell like gear oil? Maybe a bad seal ? You’ll know more if you remove the wheel. I don’t think it’s any problem at all going another 120 miles to a good shop.

That used to work but covid eliminated my sense of smell. Not all bad during a week camping with no showers.

 

[Artie]

If your air locker has a manifold I’d check around it for gear oil. I had an issue with my rear ended breather is it was puking gear oil up at my air compressor. If it’s gear oil it’s going to take the path of least resistance and I’d have to image it would go out the air line before the axle seals. You can pull that breather tube out and try to blown air out of it, that would be an easy way to rule it out.

I ended up adding a purge valve for my locker and running that ARB diff breather to get around the clogged stock breather.

 

[kcjaz]

I just found my extended breather tube has come in contact with my exhaust and cauterized it. I’m sure I have some pressure built up in there.

 

[kcjaz]

I’m just going fix the breather and see if the seal still leaks. What parts do I need beside the seal if I end up having to replace the seal?

Also, probably a stupid but with an air locker, is the whole diff exposed to the compressor air pressure? I would not think so but if gear oil can be blown into the breather to up to the manifold, maybe it is.

 

[bloc]

You'll need the oil seal 90310-63001 and the o-ring that seals the bearing assembly to the end of the axle housing 90301-88004

Thing is we rarely just blow a seal.. it's usually one of the bearings allowing the axle and retainer (what the seal slides on) moving around letting fluid past.

When the locker works correctly the only part that sees compressed air is the sliding piston inside the locker assembly. Thing is, if you develop leaks in the copper line or end-seal inside the housing it can pressurize the whole housing.

The reason fluid gets pushed back up to the manifold is the pressurized housing pushes fluid into the line, then even normal operation with the piston moving in and out, with the control valve and associated breather, means fluid gets pushed all the way up to the manifold.

When my rear axle bearing went bad there was no play at all, nor a leak. Just one bad spot on the upper side of one race, and one really damaged ball bearing.

If you want to see what's involved with swapping bearings see this thread.. also has pictures of the above seal and o-ring

Thread 'Rear axle bearing change'

Mar 19, 2021

Back again with something I hope will help some people eventually.



I'll try not to make this too wordy, but there is a little background. I spent months tracking down a driveline noise and with the help of some board members and especially @CharlieS narrowed it down to a passenger side rear axle/wheel bearing.

Troubleshooting thread here: New driveline noise after lift - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/new-driveline-noise-after-lift.1228472/

Bearing postmortem thread and pics here: Rear axle bearing postmortem -...

• bloc
• Replies: 19
• Forum: 200-Series Cruisers

• 

 

[bloc]

I did want to add.. it is certainly possible that the increased pressure from the melted breather just pushed fluid out and no lasting damage was done.

If you check my linked rear bearing thread I show a part Toyota added to prevent leaking gear oil from fouling the parking brake parts.. but personally I’d want to pull that brake rotor and clean as much of the gear oil out as possible before buttoning it all back up for the long haul.

Maybe try to address the breather, verify fluid level, then drive for a while to be confident the leak has stopped. If so, consider pulling the rotor and cleaning as described.

The clever fluid diverter would get most of it, but not all.

 

[Sandroad]

I did want to add.. it is certainly possible that the increased pressure from the melted breather just pushed fluid out and no lasting damage was done.

If you check my linked rear bearing thread I show a part Toyota added to prevent leaking gear oil from fouling the parking brake parts.. but personally I’d want to pull that brake rotor and clean as much of the gear oil out as possible before buttoning it all back up for the long haul.

Maybe try to address the breather, verify fluid level, then drive for a while to be confident the leak has stopped. If so, consider pulling the rotor and cleaning as described.

The clever fluid diverter would get most of it, but not all.

This. There is so little oil visible in the photos I agree it’s certainly possible no lasting damage was done.

 

[Romer]

I did want to add.. it is certainly possible that the increased pressure from the melted breather just pushed fluid out and no lasting damage was done.

If you check my linked rear bearing thread I show a part Toyota added to prevent leaking gear oil from fouling the parking brake parts.. but personally I’d want to pull that brake rotor and clean as much of the gear oil out as possible before buttoning it all back up for the long haul.

Maybe try to address the breather, verify fluid level, then drive for a while to be confident the leak has stopped. If so, consider pulling the rotor and cleaning as described.

The clever fluid diverter would get most of it, but not all.

I would go with this first. Had a similar issue on my 100 and the 200 now and then gets fluid up to the manifold that drips down below it

 

[kcjaz]

I spliced the breather tube back together and pressure washed all the oil off the rim and axle. Drove down to our lake cabin (120) miles and there was a small amount of seepage. I’m hoping it was just residual gear oil that had already got past the seal. I’ll just keep an eye on it for now.