Please Advise: Axle Oil Seal ran groove in axle. How bad? (2 Viewers)

[MtMan]

Hey, all, I started rebuilding my front end today and I notice on my PS axle there is a groove where the oil seal sat. It is not present on the other axle. How bad do you think it is?

I have both OEM and Marlin seals and was planning on putting on the OEM after a lot of reading on Mud. But, I heard that the Marlin seals sit on the axle a little differently--avoiding the groove. Has this been confirmed by anyone?

 

[akarilo]

I think I read that there is one seal available (Cruiser Outfitters maybe) that has two different seals on it, thus straddling the original worn location. Somebody chime in.

 

[Kernal]

The lips of the Marlin Crawler Heavy Duty seal IME appear to ride deeper on the shaft than the Toyota seal so may seal better in your situation?? My axle shafts were also worn, not quite as deep as yours look; it's now 2 1/2 years after using the Marlin seals and no gear oil leaking into the knuckles.

 

[MtMan]

The lips of the Marlin Crawler Heavy Duty seal IME appear to ride deeper on the shaft than the Toyota seal so may seal better in your situation?? My axle shafts were also worn, not quite as deep as yours look; it's now 2 1/2 years after using the Marlin seals and no gear oil leaking into the knuckles.

That was the info that I had heard, too. Good to know you've had success with Marlin's seals. There have been a lot of threads saying Marlin's didn't flex as much as OEM and would cause leakage that way, but I want to know for sure if I need to use them or not vs OEM with the groove. My preference it OEM.

 

[Kernal]

I went through the same thought process and read all the discussions on the design differences. With the axle shafts out of the axle housing I slid both the OEM and the Marlin seals on the worn axle shafts separately to compare how they fit. The Marlin just seemed like the obvious choice (to me) in that situation.

 

[MtMan]

Wonder if I should put the Marlin on the grooved axle and the OEM on the good axle and be the guinea pig for the forum. See which one wins.

 

[bhmmapping]

You can use the oem seal if you want, just dont knock it in as far so it rides in a different spot. I would just use the marlin seal.

 

[livinoffroad]

I have a pair of the Marlin seals sitting in my tool box, and the next chance I have, they are going on. Then, no more gear lube in the knuckles

 

[landtoy80]

I put new OEM seal at 210,000 mi and set the seal so not to be on the grove. Its now 381,000 mi and no leaking. At least the oil does not leak out. It does leak grease in though.

 

[MtMan]

Thanks for the input, guys. I just seated the Marlin seals this evening...so we'll seeeee