Front inner diff seal

[Rainman Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rainman]

Yesterday I had the front inner seal replaced on the diff where the axle goes in on the passenger side. The seal had been leaking on and off since Easter 2007 but in the last two weeks had gotten really bad so it was time to do something about it.

Russ WA was quoted $940 by Toyota to replace the inner passenger side seal on his 120 series, mine cost $170 at Malaga Suspensions - $26 for the seal, $127 for labour the rest GST. I'm not sure if there is significant differences between a 90 and 120 series?

Still, I'm happy with that price.

[Rainman Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rainman]

An update on the leak. Got the vehicle back and after visiting relatives Saturday night I woke up to find a HUGE leak under the vehicle again. I took it back to Malaga suspensions and they had if for 2 days and couldnt find the cause.

Eventually they rang me and advised that the problem was a single use clip that holds the axle in place inside the diff housing. It seems Toyota had reused the same clip when they replaced the CV joint and it wasnt holding the axle in place, resulting in part of it actually moving in and out of the diff housing each time there was any flex on it. This resulted in the intermittent leak.

They replaced the clip with an after market one which they assured me was better than OEM so hopefully thats the end of the problem. The best part was they did it all for free.

[jcas24 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close jcas24]

Thanks for this Rainman. My prado has recently started leaking from the same seal. Noticed it when I removed the front bash plate for cleaning mud out. I will do the replacement myself one day but until then did you find you had to check it occasionally and top up the oil?

Thanks

Joel

[Rainman Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rainman]

In the couple of weeks before the seal was replaced I checked the diff every second day and I had to top it up once before I took it in for repairs.

When it first came to my attention I was out in the goldfields and we started to pull the CV apart trying to trace the leak on the main street of Leonora before discovering it was leaking from the diff. After putting it all back together the problem disappeared for several months.

I had the vehicle serviced by Toyota before a trip up to the Pilbara mid last year and they couldnt find anything but by the time we got to Newman it was leaking badly again and the diff was nearly half empty.

I bought some bottles of diff oil and checked it every couple of days but only had to add to it one more time before we got back to Perth. Once back it dissappeared again.

Since then I've been so busy off roading has been put on the back burner but it hadnt been leaking up until a couple of weeks ago so wasnt a priority. I'm glad its all fixed now (hopefully).

[jcas24 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close jcas24]

Thanks for the reply. If my diff does blow I may have to get an airlocker..oh no :lol:

[deetoy Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close deetoy]

Re: Front inner diff seal

Yesterday I had the front inner seal replaced on the diff where the axle goes in on the passenger side. The seal had been leaking on and off since Easter 2007 but in the last two weeks had gotten really bad so it was time to do something about it.

Russ WA was quoted $940 by Toyota to replace the inner passenger side seal on his 120 series, mine cost $170 at Malaga Suspensions - $26 for the seal, $127 for labour the rest GST. I'm not sure if there is significant differences between a 90 and 120 series?

Still, I'm happy with that price.

wow, great price, was just quoted $38 for the seal by repco.
you mentioned (next reply) the retaining clip was replaced with an aftermarket one to stop CV popping out again. any idea where to get them from?
anyone know a workshop in Brisbane that can do similar price? was just quoted $500+ by two suburban workshops. ouch!

[Rainman Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rainman]

Re: Front inner diff seal

you mentioned (next reply) the retaining clip was replaced with an aftermarket one to stop CV popping out again. any idea where to get them from?

Sorry for the slow reply deetoy, been on holidays. No idea about the retaining clip unfortunately. Their email address is [email protected]. or phone number is 08 92481130 if your still keen.