Rear wheel bearings- how to tell which side is going?

[delicatedelinquent]

Hi I know i have a bad rear bearing but i do not know how to tell which side it is on. Anyone have any ideas so i can isolate it?

[gmtech1]

First check for play in the bearing, top to bottom movement with the wheel on. You can also slowly rotate the wheels, leaving your hands on the tire to feel for any roughness/griniding. Try driving with a passenger in the back and see if they can tell which side the noise is coming from.

[denisond3]

My technique is to jack up the car so both rear wheels are off the ground. I take a 3 foot wooden dowel 1/4 diameter, and hold one end onto the back of the hub where the bearing is located. The outer end of the stick I push against the small flap of skin at the front side of my ear. Then have someone spin the wheel as fast as they can by hand. The bad bearing will usually make more noise than the good side. They sell mechanics 'stethoscopes' for this purpose too.

One some cars, if the bearing is making enough noise, you could drive along beside a big brick wall (like the back side of the Walmart sized stores), with the windows down. Do it in both directions to see if the noise is more noticealbe on one side versus the other; the brick wall will reflect sounds pretty well.