ciaka

Before I started, I called around and found a shop that has a press and many adapters, so they can press out wheel hub from wheel carrier, then press out the bearing, then press in new bearing and finally press in old wheel hub.
Shop I found did it for me, charged me 20 bucks, 20 minutes.

Below shows you what you need to remove to get to the wheel carrier, so you can take it to shop and have bearing replaced. Hope this helps out.
You would want to do this if you notice noises in car while driving, such as rythmic tapping (without any vibration), or general much louder noise while driving. These are typical symptoms of bearing going bad (***** being shaved a little, creating noises while driving).
In my case, I heard general increased road noise, and tapping that increased as speed was increased. While driving in tight circles on road, noticed the tapping became much more pronounced while turning left. While turning right, the tapping would almost disappear.
Therefore, since turning left puts more load/weight onto right side axle, I deduced the right or passenger side needs bearing replacement. Axle was not compromised, in great shape, so I did not replace it. Some replace both axle and bearing.

Since my axle was stuck to the carrier, i had to use propane torch from walmart, to heat inner perimeter of hub, then used 8-10lbs sledge to bang onto axle, to separate from wheel carrier. I used old spindle nut as shield for axle, so I can reuse the axle, with new purchased spindle nut.

Replacing entire wheel carrier will cost you about 1000 bucks. Buying bearing for 100, paying about 20 for a shop to replace bearing itself, and doing work on your own will save you about 2000 bucks on this job.
Good luck and chime in with comments if needed.

Mike Billings

Top quality writeup. I'll be doing this job probably in 2032.

DogWood

Nice write up Ciaka!

ciaka

Lol. They all say that, only to find out something makes car drive louder. Low and behold, its the bearings. Hope you dont need to use this thread.