loud rear end

[Petros]

cheap paint thinner, Naptha, carb cleaner or even some of the newer water soluble solvent solutions. With the lighter petroleum based solvent like carb cleaner or paint thinner, it will evaporate out on its own. The idea is to just wash down the inside of the axle housing between where the bearing failed and the diff housing to get all the chunks out, and as much of the fine particles as practical.

Likely all of the heavier stuff just rolled down to the bottom of the diff housing, and stuck to the magnate, and a good flush should take care of it. But once I bought a project Tercel with a trashed rear diff, when I pulled it out there was a lot of metal particles in the bottom of the housing that did not come out when I drained it. I had to washout the bottom of the diff housing, oddly the drain is not at the low point of the housing.

[4wdchico]

While it can be helpful in diagnosing a problem, getting under a car on jacks with it's wheels turning has caused many a horrible death.

I agree that it is most likely wheel bearings. I'd just pull the axles and replace them and the oil seals behind them. I take the axles to the machine shop to R&R the bearings with their press. Remember that our cars have a specific distance to tap the oil seals in. Driving them to the bottom of their bores will be too far. Strange that both front and rear wheel bearing seals are set up that way. I had a machine shop turn me a special tool to install the front inner wheel bearing seals to the correct depth.

While you have the axles at the machine shop you can wave the longest, highest powered telescoping pick up magnet you can find down thru the open ends of the axle housing to see if you can pick up more chunks. Good chance that the magnet on the plug collected most all of the bits, but it would be interesting to see.

[Jarf]

4WDC - I would NEVER, EVER advocate anyone getting under a car, running or not, with just a jack under it.
Jack stands are an absolute must, anyone who fails to heed that advice will pay dearly, usually with their life.

Dlb - if you know your machine shop well and trust the guys there, go for it.
I say this because I have seen "professionals" press off the old bearings, the usual result is a bent axle.
Get out your die grinder and cut a slot into the outer race, you don't need to go right thru, install a good sharp chisel into the groove, 1 or 2 whacks should split it.(The races and retainer are hardened so they split rather easily once the groove is cut.)
Do the same for the retainer and the inner race, by all means have a shop instal the new bearings, if you don't have access to a press.
The manual states a hot oil bath but it really isn't required, as long as everything is clean and you get it set up in a press nice and straight, it will press on without issue.
As to the seal, take a good look at it before you pull it, maybe even measure it's depth, and install the new one to the same depth.
Easiest way to pull the seal is with the end of the axle, lots of leverage to pop it out without the fear of marring the housing, does tend to ruin the seal, but I would never reuse one.
I believe the manual recommends splitting the brake line from the wheel cylinder, I have never bothered with that, just make sure the backing plate stays with the axle housing.
Sometimes the bearing assembly will hang-up on the backing plate and try to bring it forward which can result in damaging the brake line, so go easy and be mindful.
Washing everything out is a great idea, as is a long magnet to chase any debris.
Most solvents are poor lubricators. Gears and bearings sometimes don't appreciate being dry and surface rust can form quickly.
If you use solvent, make sure and get oil back onto and into everything as soon as possible.
A quality penetrating oil can also be used to flush things out, WD40 comes to mind, more expensive than solvent but less chance of things going sideways.

[dlb]

i rode in the cargo area while my wife drove the car around the block (much to her annoyance) and the sound was definitely coming from the passenger side so i ordered the bearing, gaskets, retainer, and oil seal. i've got it all apart now and will be taking the axle shaft, new bearing, and inner retainer to a machine shop tomorrow but i'm confused about which way the axle housing to backing plate gasket is supposed to face. the old gasket is completely flat but the new one has a raised portion on it. i took a photo of the new and old for comparison:



when i look at the drain hole system (which i'll get into in a second), it looks like the raised portion of the gasket should face toward the brake backing plate, but both the backing plate and axle housing are flat so it seems the gasket will end up crushed and deformed once everything is bolted up, which would be bad.

second part: can someone clearly explain how the backing plate drain holes work? i read this thread

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... 78&p=22409

and that helped a bit but i still need clarification. it seems that water somehow gets inside the outer retainer (i'm not sure how but it doesn't really matter) and that it leaks out the drain holes. the two gaskets have notches in them to accommodate this draining: the outer gasket is cut out at the top, allowing water to move through hole in the brake backing plate, and the inner gasket is cut out at the bottom, allowing water to drain down and out from the backing plate through the cut outs in the axle housing. is my understanding of this correct?

[ARCHINSTL]

I put the raised portion inside the bearing outer retainer - that seemed correct - apparently has worked OK for 1 1/2 years.
I think your analysis of the water exit is correct. I never figgered out how it got in there in the first place...
https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... ket#p42553
Tom M.

[dlb]

yeah, the outer retainer to backing plate gasket makes sense to me. it's the other gasket between the axle housing and backing plate that has me confused. you didn't run into this problem with it, tom?

[ARCHINSTL]

I'm a wee bit embarrassed - I don't recall...
Look at fig. 7 here - maybe a help?
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/repair ... 52800522ae
Tom M.

[dlb]

nah, it's the same diagram as what they show in the FSM. i might call toyota tomorrow and see if they can look it up for me.

[xirdneh]

the hole in the center of the retainer plate is larger than the axle
thats where the water gets in

[Lil Beast]

Have you tried the early 80's corolla RWD, the T4wd does use the corolla rear end!

[dlb]

the hole in the center of the retainer plate is larger than the axle
thats where the water gets in

thank you! while you're here xirdneh, any input on which way the axle housing to backing plate gasket should face?

not sure what you mean, LB. are you suggesting looking at a manual for an early 80's corolla? if so, the gasket design has changed since the manuals were made so they don't make any mention of this raised style of gasket.

[xirdneh]

i do not know about the gasket
i have never replaced one
usually i do not mess with them at all
but when i do i just slap some gasket goo on the old ones and re-use them

[dlb]

yeah, the old one is in ok shape so i can reuse it and hang on to the new one until this mystery is solved. i just really want to use the new one because it was expensive ($14!) and non-returnable.

[dlb]

took the shaft, bearing, and retainers to the local garage to have them press them on. i also brought the gaskets and asked the mechanic what he thought. he said it would flatten out once everything was torqued up. i don't agree with this but figured screw it, if everyone else has been putting the new gaskets on whatever way they please and not having problems, i won't worry about it any further. i'll post if i find any troubles down the road.

and it was indeed the axle bearing. finished the job yesterday, took reggie for a test drive today, sounded great. thanks to all for the help.

funny thing is that a rear bearing also just went on the westfalia. i've had my fill of VW nonsense though and will happily passing that job on to my VW mechanic.

[xirdneh]

what did they charge for labor to install bearing?