94 caprice rear outer bearing replacement

[4evrbad]

My cars rear passenger side outer bearing i believe is bad, it makes a little noise at highway speeds especially when steering to the left, when i steer slightly to the right it goes away.Are the outer bearings accesible from the wheel well with the rotor and caliper removed or do I have to take it apart from the differential? If i have to go through the diifferential what is the proper steps in the removal process to get to the bearing? Do I need a bearing puller? Also should i replace the inner bearing as well? My car has 123,000. Thanks!!!!!!!!1

[silicon212]

This must be one of those posts that got eaten by the dreaded Evil Database Monster ... either that, or I have an incredible sense of deja vu ...

You will have to remove the caliper and rotor, and then remove the diff cover to get to the cross shaft in the carrier. There is a through bolt that holds this in place - it's on one end of the shaft and it bolts through the shaft from the carrier to hold in place. Carefully remove the cross shaft (it will want to fall out, don't let this happen), because the cross shaft holds the spider gears in place and these can fall out. Once you have the cross shaft removed, have a friend or helper slightly push in on the axle shaft, then the retaining C-clip should fall out, then the axle shaft will pull right out. You will need a slide hammer to remove the old bearing, and a bearing driver to install the new one.

You have two choices here - you can either use a stock replacement bearing and a new axle shaft (if it's making noise, the axle shaft is galled), or you can get a so-called 'axle saver' bearing provided there's not a ridge around the worn portion of the axle. The axle saver positions the bearing outboard of the standard position, so that it rides on an unworn portion of the axle. I am using these on my own car with good success as I couldn't justify spending $500 on new axles for an axle assembly I paid $120 for. Also, axle savers have their seals built in as opposed to a seal being pressed into the axle tube after the bearing.

Standard bearings are made out of pressed metal, while axle savers are machined. As a result, the axle saver might not want to fit in the tube and if you try to drive it in with a hammer using more force than you would use for standard bearings, you can distort the axle tube. This was the case with mine, so to prevent tube distortion, I used a brake hone to slightly enlarge the tube, just enough so that standard pressure located the bearing properly.

[Blue Bowtie]

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by 4evrbad

My cars rear passenger side outer bearing i believe is bad, it makes a little noise at highway speeds especially when steering to the left, when i steer slightly to the right it goes away.Are the outer bearings accesible from the wheel well with the rotor and caliper removed or do I have to take it apart from the differential? If i have to go through the diifferential what is the proper steps in the removal process to get to the bearing? Do I need a bearing puller? Also should i replace the inner bearing as well? My car has 123,000. Thanks!!!!!!!!1

are you sure this is the rear bearing.....your discription to me is the right front bearing....these bearings require cleaning and greasing every 30,ooomi...if not maintained this is usually the symptom....as you have...


when the rear goes they usually start to leak out the seal...also if you have a limited slip diff make sure the cover gasket drain back holes are not blocked by the incorrect gasket or sealant as this will cause the rear bearings to fail....