Rear Wheel Bearing Replacement

[d0n_3d]

Guys I have pretty much figured out what my constant wuh wuh wuh wuh wuh sound from the rear is...it's gotta be the wheel bearings. I noticed that lately the noise has grown way louder and now the car vibrates hard and shakes at hard turns...like the axles are popping out and the one side of the tire is rubbing on the frame

I installed a brand new aluminum driveshaft and spicer ujoints...didn't solve the problem...I pulled the cover off the rear end...changed the fluid and found nothing wrong in the rear...

so what is all needed and what is the procedure for changing rear axle wheel bearings? I'll be doing that plus valve springs this week...my car hasn't ran right in the last 2 years i think...almost wish I could just go back to stock but then that would be no fun

 

[GNFURY]

just pop your wheels off, disassemble your drum brake assembly, pry out the old bearing out of the tube. a shop manual or chiltons book will help you reeeel good. These books are really the best "mods" you can do for your car. They can walk you through MOST maintainance jobs like this one. So, my advise is to run to the auto parts store and grab one. Later
(They have pictures and everything! )

 

[Pat Adkins]

you have to pull the axles out to replace the bearing. If you've had a grinding noise one of your axles could be damaged

 

[BoostKillsStres]

There's no need to touch the brakes at all when replacing the bearings and you can't get them out w/o pullnig the axles as said.

Short story:
Pull the cover, loose all your new fluid, you'll see a small bolt head on the PS of the carrier which you'll have to rotate the carrier just right to get out and be very careful as if you strip the head or this bolt breaks for some reason your in trouble as its basically a threaded pin that runs into the steel shaft that goes thru both spider gears. Anyway, pull that bolt then rotate the carrier and pull the spider gear shaft out, then with the wheels off push in on each axle then pull out the c clips in the center of the carrier and the axles will then come out. You might need a bearing puller or have to fabricate your own to get the bearings out as there usually fairly tightly tapped into the rear housing. You might try cleaning out the end of the tube to make sure there isn't any debris from the damaged bearing.

Lube the new ones good and tap them in and reverse everything to get it back together. And again, be VERY careful when tightening that spider shaft bolt. I don't know what the torque spec is but you don't want to hurt it.

HTH

 

[Red Regal T]

I broke many of those bolts (8mm or 5/16")trying to get the carrier pin out in junkyards. Sometimes, no matter how careful you are, they break. You might want to try buying a new one for when you put it back together.