CV axle seal replacement

My son and I are replacing the bushings and ball joints on the lower control arms of his 2006 4Runner Sport. And also replace the CV axle boots since they are cracked (but not split open).

While we are at it, we are going to replace the CV axle seal. So far I only found "Timmy The Toolman" on Youtube explaining this. He has a 3rd gen, but I see the seal part#'s are the same.
According to this video, the right seal needs to go in 5.5mm +/- 0.2mm. I plan to make measurements in english and use a popsicle stick as a quick measuring stick. In fact I might just use the stick and mark it up with the original seal before pulling the seal out.

My question is how in the heck an I supposed to measure 5.5mm? I am confident of getting 1mm at a time, but 0.5 +/- 0.2mm is pretty picky. is it that critical? I thought about using a large socket to softly hammer the seal in, but I know there is a chance the seal will not go in straight. Any tricks to get the new seal in properly?

 

Ok, so if it calls for 5.5mm, but I get either 5.0 or 6.0, that should be OK ?
And as for using the CV axle to drive it in... what will keep the shield on the CV axle from rubbing on the seal when driving?

I am leaning towards the popsicle stick method. I just don't want to have a leak, then have to do ti all again.

 

Something like a large socket or old oil filter might be the right diameter to tap it in all at once instead of little tap here and there around the circle. My recommendation is to measure the 5mm with whatever you want, popsicle stick or calipers or whatever, just so long as its as accurate as you can get, then put the CV into place and give it a whack to seat it in the diff. By the time the CV is seated the seal should seat right in place and no leaks.

I say "i recommend this" as I did what youre thinking now, seating it as exactly as 5.5mm as i can get, then put the CV in place... and now i have a small leak

 

OK, we got the seal in and this is my take. I will not know the results until next week. We will be doing the driver side this weekend or next week.

When we took the CV axle out (passenger side), we carefully looked at the seal already in there. We noticed the edge of the seal was even with the edge of the inner rim.
Since we were replacing the CV boots and ball joint, we rented a tool kit from Advance Auto (Kit 46 or Model# 648617). One of the cylinders fit the passenger side seal just right.
We hammered the seal in until there was about 1mm left. Then we took a 10mm deep socket and tapped around the edge of the seal in, until the seal edge was even with the inner rim.
We did this by having 3/4 the sock on the seal and tap it, until the outer 1/4 of the socket touched the inner rim.

We figured, it is better to leave it slightly out (like 5mm), than tap it too much and it will leak for sure.

 

From reading countless "Help my seals are leaking" posts on T4R, I seem to recall the constant advice was to just start the new seal straight, then just seat the seal the rest of the way using the CV axle. When the CV axle seats, it'll put the seal at the correct depth and avoid leaks. Of course, your method should work well.

I think people having issues are just ramming it as far as it'll seat and not bothering to look before removing the old one for reference.

 

My biggest fear of doing axle seals is putting them in straight and square

 

2.75" OD pvc coupling, small block of wood and a small hammer.
Never tried the CV method.

 

On the passenger side, it essentially lines up with a small flange recessed from the outer edge of the housing. I've seated the seals with the PVC pipe and also just using a drift and light taps with a hammer. Now I have a seal driver kit. Just go easy and you can get it straight.