Diff and springs

With the brakes removed it was time to take the axles out. New bearings are a must as I have no idea how old they are and from experience most cars I get the rear bearings seem to still be the originals! Well after several hours using different tools, including the obligatory slide hammer and the 'axle removing levers' (well levers with fulcrums that work when a slide hammer fails), I still can't get them out! I think the original bearings have seized to the inside of the axle tube or something. No amount of work is getting them out so I decided to take the whole back axle out as one piece. 


The rest wasn't too bad, plenty of RP7, and the U bolts came out, but getting the handbrake cables out of the backing plates was a nightmare. I ended up taking the brake cable off at the junction under the body and then fiddling around getting them off the backing plates when the whole axle was out of the car. Even then one side still took about an hour. I got a good look at the axle though, and it's been leaking from the front seal. You can see that in the photo. Alas this means a trip to a diff specialist as I can't remove and reset the yoke to change the seal myself.

Whilst I was a it, I decided to remove the leaf springs to give them a clean up and to change the shackle rubbers. Well once again, either Toyota ones are remarkably well made, or they have been replaced at some stage as they are pretty good. Except the one here in the photo which is started to perish. I'll put new ones in just to be safe.