1)It appears there are more aspects to repairing the oil leaks than I had visualized before.
2) It has been some time now and I do not recall exactly "what" I asked to have repaired. I may have just asked to have the oil seals "replaced," being familiar with seals leaking on my rear axles. The seals are observable in my Toy Repair manual and I may have jumped to an incomplete conclusion about what the leaking-problem solution was.
3) I turn 72 this year and as you can imagine my most precious resource is my time. I plan to have someone perform the work. This forum is most helpful in asking the kind of questions that get to the correct repair.
4) I do not wheel "hard" and in fact I do not wheel at all, if I have the question correctly in context. I drive over rough ground on some ranch propery but this is less of a stress than "wheeling." I have lock-out hubs and only use 4WD on the range or the muddy road getting there.
5) I did not see the groves on the axles and have no opinion about the mechanics honesty or candor in his relaying his observations to me. Others in this small community speak very highly about how good he is, speaking of his auto repair service.
6) No one has commented about the "sleeves" that supposedly cover the groves, thereby providing a new smooth surface for the seal. Assuming there are, in-fact, groves, does anyone have any knowledge about sleeves? As I mentioned earlier, my mechanic said they were available, he just knew of none for my vehicle.
7) I have mostly avoided Toy in the past for maint as my experience with them was that they were not too good. There operations also always stationed a Svc Mgr, of dubious knowledge, between me and the mechanic. This prevented any quality dialoge about the problem or the solution. My experience today on another problem was (so far) refreshing. I may have to reconsider Toy as quality seems to ebb and flow at some shops.
7) Oh yes, I alway heard that "growing up was optional and that growing old was mandatory."