Possible Problem at Steering Knuckle

[Kurlee Daddee]

I was  under the car a few minutes ago making sure I could find all the drain and fill plugs for the tranny, transfer cars and diffs because I am going to drain all the fluids and found this.

Drivers side:


Looks as though the seal in the steering knuckle on the drivers side is bad. Doesn't it?

For reference, here is the passenger side.


What do you guys think?

[whiteman]

Has the truck been sitting for awhile? 
I know that some will leak if they have sat for a long period but once it is driven again it goes away.   

[RokCrawlinToy]

get a rebuild kit and fix it, might as well put new guts in there if you're going to take the knuckle apart. Should only take you a few hours.     http://www.marlincrawler.com/htm/axles.htm

[yotaboy79]

that aint that bad when you have to refill your front diff on the trail cuz of how much its leaking then you know its time to rebuild it thats how long i put it off before i rebuilt them

[IronClad]

normal toyota front axle issues..  pretty much  the inner axle seal is toast as soon as you slide a shaft through it and if you wheel your  yota  the grease in the knuckles turns to liquid pretty fast and leaks through the wiper seals. pretty  nothing you can do except keep replacing seals or let them leak and watch yer fluid level..

[Willy Mammoth]

I would deffinatly invest in the rebuild kits. They have all the seals needed to stop it from leaking. The gear oil gets into the nuckle grease and then leaks out the ball wiper seal.

I would do the wheel bearings at the same time.

[Kurlee Daddee]

normal toyota front axle issues.. pretty much the inner axle seal is toast as soon as you slide a shaft through it and if you wheel your yota the grease in the knuckles turns to liquid pretty fast and leaks through the wiper seals. pretty nothing you can do except keep replacing seals or let them leak and watch yer fluid level..

Thanks for the suggestion. So I should be more concerned with the fluid level in the axle then the grease in the steering knuckle? I see there is a fill plug at the top of the steering knuckle bulkhead (if you call it that.) Should I top that off with a little bit of grease as well? I will plan on doing the repair later, but if I can drive it a little now for a while and top off the fluid and grease, I can get to the repair later. I don't drive this truck as a daily driver, so not many miles will be put on this problem. Because if I put new wheel bearings in, I will also replace the rotors and brake pads at the same time.

And thanks Rok for the link. I appreciate it.

[IronClad]

yup  thats exactly what that plug is there for .. to fill the knuckle with grease.  just keep an eye on yer gear oil and  toss some grease in the knuckle and it will hold ya for a while.
i got used to leaky front end so i just  let it leak for probably 2 years ..  just checked my trunions everynow and then and the wheel bearings.. got tired of replacing inner axle seals and whatnot.

[Kurlee Daddee]

yup thats exactly what that plug is there for .. to fill the knuckle with grease. just keep an eye on yer gear oil and toss some grease in the knuckle and it will hold ya for a while.
i got used to leaky front end so i just let it leak for probably 2 years .. just checked my trunions everynow and then and the wheel bearings.. got tired of replacing inner axle seals and whatnot.

Thanks bro. I appreciate it.