The dreaded whirring noise has been confirmed as rear right wheel bearing. I have a replacement bearing ready to fit and a neighbour has a press (so hopefully I don't need to go to a mechanic purely for that) but I can't find any instructions on Google, YouTube or in this group so thought I would post the question. Apologies in advance if I overlooked a thread but appreciate any pointers in the right direction

Does anyone know if there's a HowTo or if this is a clear "do not attempt at home!?"

Cheers,

David

Here are the procedures. This is NOT an easy task and I suggest you seek professional help.

thank you for such a quick reply! I'll have a read through and will no-doubt have questions tomorrow

If you do, please indicate which PDF and what step # you are referring to.

Check PDF #5 as I forgot to include it.

Thanks - much appreciated. I only managed to read through those partially today - I'm away for the next 5 days so I'll try to read through the next couple of days and come back to you with questions probably Monday / Tuesday next week. I'll be clear to reference the specific PDF and step that I'm asking for clarity on. Thanks - I really appreciate you sending that info over 👍

ok ... so a very late reply ... apologies ... friend's Father's bereavement had me in a city where we had a Covid scare so focus was elsewhere ... and now we're into school holidays so have been away on a ski-trip ... at which point I managed to pop my ACL ... so I haven't had a chance to update.

First - thanks Maj. Dundee - your instructions were perfect 👍 Bearings replaced and all running nicely for the last 2 weeks (a nice quiet and smooth 3 1/2 hour drive to the mountains for skiing, thanks).

Second ... some things to pay attention to when doing this yourself - all of which are pretty critical:

1. You basically want to run through "R&I Rear Wheel Bearing #2.pdf" first and then "R&I Rear Wheel Bearing #1.pdf"
2. You'll need a 36mm socket to remove the hub
3. Don't forget to pre-load the suspension before you disconnect (and reconnect) the swing-arms, etc., ... otherwise you'll a) have a tough time disconnecting them - requiring lots of brute force and a nasty PING that could knock you out if your head's in the wrong place and b) will just rip apart the bushings within 4-8 weeks after you've put everything back together. (I didn't hit either of these problems ... simply because I've hit them before on a VW Passat!)
4. You'll want a hydraulic press to push the bearing out from the inside and to reseat the new bearing.
5. Once you've removed the hub and BEFORE you start to remove the bearing with the hydraulic press ... don't forget that there's a circlip holding the bearing in place. (See piece #11 in the "R&I Rear Wheel Bearing #1.pdf") - you literally push the bearing out from the inside. BUT ... if there's a heap of grease / crud on the hub then you might not see the circlip and could overlook it. If you overlook the circlip, the hydraulic press will deform the bearing and just push out the inner while deforming the bearing dust cover and leaving the outer in place ... at which point you'll need to work something out with a manual press / separator kit (don't start this without one on hand 'just in case'). You'll want a decent set of circlip pliers.
6. Don't forget a torque-wrench to get the bolts / nuts tightened to the right spec
7. Removing the hand-brake cable was a bit fiddly. In the instructions it says to "cut" it but you don't need to cut anything - just release the handbrake cable from within the cabin, loosen the nuts on the hand-brake cable retainer (literally centre of the car just behind the bumper) and wiggle the cable free. Having a 2nd person to help pull the cable while you unscrew the nuts is handy.

There's a YouTube video showing a guy doing it in about 48 minutes from start to finish (with no breaks in his video so it's pretty legit) - but he has the benefit of a hydraulic hoist plus he's clearly done this a few times before. I reckon that for most people it should take 2 hours to do. If you forget about the circlip and have to reform the bearings etc., ... then you could be double that, I guess - or worse if you have to order a new set of bearings.

I don't think this is too tough a job to do from home as long as you have a decent 3 tonne jack, axle stands, a hydraulic press, manual press / separator kit, 36mm socket and the time / space to leave this for a while if you hit any problems. ... maybe a 3 out of 5 on The Beard Rating as far as scratchy-beard complexity goes.

Hopefully this is useful for others. I know that this saved me about 1200 New Zealand dollars by doing myself so no doubt it will save others a decent chunk of money too.

Cheers and thanks again Maj. Dundee for sharing the info -- MUCH APPRECIATED 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍.