I know this topic has probably been beat to death but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. Has anyone had any luck or any techniques in getting the blasted rear axle to seal up on on of these things? Mine has 136K on it, trouble free except the starter and the rear axle seals.
I did the inner and outer axle seals at 90K, the right side stayed sealed to this day, the left side not so much. It started leaking again at 100K, new inner seal, 110K again, 120, again still leaking. At 135K I replaced the inner and outer seals on the left side again AND had a new bearing installed on the axle by a reputable machine shop here in Las Vegas.
It still leaks... I checked the breather, cleaned it just in case, went to 140W oil and the leak slowed a bit, hate that option though, truck feels like I'm pulling a small trailer so I went back to Mobil 1 75W 90. Of course still leaking. And yes I did install the axle retaining nuts to torque specs in a cross pattern so I doubt I warped the housing. I also made sure the axle did NOT touch the seal until it was fully seated. I'd appreciate any thoughts on the subject.

Thanks
Greg

Maybe the axle shaft is worn where the oil seal seats.

Agreed, or you may have a bent axle. Unfortunately the axle seal is a weak link on the 3rd gens and it seems like you either get one that doesn't leak or one that won't stop.

Did you replace the breather with a new one? Did you blow through it to see if it still bleeds pressure.

I had a bent rear axle that caused the seals to blow on my 96. After replacing the axle shaft, it has been problem free since then, which was over 3 years ago.

Contact you local dealer about the seals. I had the same problem that you had with my 97. I took my truck to a local mech. and they "fixed" it, and a few days later the problem happened again. I took it back to them and they "fixed" it (again). I drove it for a couple of days and guess what?? it happened again. So then I took it to the Toyota dealership and told them what had happened. They told me that they received a revised update from Toyota on how to make the proper repair to the rear axle seal (updated information that the local shop would not be aware of.)
After the dealer worked on my truck there have been no problems.

Thanks for the replies everyone. My latest repair attempt came from an idea from a smart guy out there on the net that suggested tightening up the seal spring a bit. The seal inner diameter is 1.90" I clipped 1/8th" off the spring, which reduced the diameter to 1.885. I checked it after three days and about 75 miles...still a small amount of oil which may be residual from the brake shoes since I just hosed them down with brakeclean until sure the fix is good. I'll let you know if it works out, otherwise I'll try the dealership route.

Greg