rear wheel bearings
 

I need to replace my rear wheel bearing in my '99. Should I buy them oem from nissan or would an aftermarket place be ok. I found some at a part store here locally but I am not to sure about the brand PTC. They do come with a one year warranty. If I go with oem the price difference is pretty big.
Also do I need any special tools to remove the bearing like a huge socket or anything?

i do not believe that you can get just the wheel bearings, at least not from nissan. They come as one with the hub. you can tr aftermarket, but i usually go with oem for parts like these. They are pricey however. DaveB will give you the best price from southpoint nissan. and you need a 36mm nut, huge breaker bar, slide hammer, and a hub puller. All these can be rented from autozone

I hope to do my rear bearings this weekend. What's the slide hammer used for?

You do have to replace the whole hub thats what makes it so expensive. I got a price quote from daveb for the hubs but I've been waiting a couple of days for him to give the total shipped. I can get them locally at auto value parts store and save about $40 each but I dont think its worth it. I think going oem would be better. So I need to rent a 36mm socket and some other toools you say.

the slide hammer is to pull the hub out from where it sits. I believe i spent 3 hours trying to hammer the hub off but no luck. dumb me forgot that there was something called a hub puller and a slide hammer after i searched on how to get the hub assembly off. These two things that can be rented from the rent-a-tool program will save you the hassle. After you take off the caliper and rotor, you simply line up the holes where the lug studs are and screw the lug nuts on. It might be a weird fit, but i managed to get it on there somehow.

http://www.autozone.com/in_our_store...e_axle_fwd.htm

take off the black thing in the middle of the hub puller, and attached your slide hammer.

http://www.autozone.com/in_our_store...ide_hammer.htm

then all you do is slide the hammer from inner to outer and it'll pull the hub. I laughed at myself and almost strangled myself for thinking i can smack the hub off...hahahaha

i would also get this one too...

http://www.autozone.com/in_our_store...mer_flange.htm

no point of going back and forth to rent tools, just get them all while you're there.

yea, i would also rent a torque bar so you can torque the axle nut back to spec. I would also get new dust covers for the bearings, they're cheap enough that i wouldn't reuse the old ones. You will also need a few different sockets, i believe its 14mm, 17mm, and 19mm to get the caliper bolts and such off. I forget which ones i use,

great info. exactly what I needed. I ordered the bearings today from the local nissan dealer. I tried waiting for daveb's response but I need to get these done.

are you sure you want to do that?? if you're doing two, you can easy save around $100-$120. Well, it really depends on what your local dealership is charging you. I call up daveb, talk to him what i need, and he gets it shipped out to me right away. Seeing that your near the west coast, it shouldn't take more than 2 days to get to you.

I got them for $141 each with tax. Daveb was $121 plus tax plus shipping, so it was about the same. I wanted to deal with daveb to give him the business but I guess he was busy. I would have to pay tax with daveb because I'm in the same state as him. TX.

yea thats not bad...my dealer charged me $180 with tax and such...so it was a pretty big savings for me

Well regular price for me locally was $190 each but I ran into an old friend of mine that was working there now so he hooked me up. :cool:

Did the bearing yesterday, not hard to do. The socket needed was not a 36mm. The correct socket was a 30mm. You definitley need the hub pulley puller. When I removed the rear right hub it rattled when I shook the hub. The left rear broke apart on me when removing. These were shot. Now the car rides smoother and quieter. :cool:

ahh!!! sorry....it honest mistake...front is 36mm, back is 30mm..really sorry about that...hopefully you had a 30mm and didn't have to run back to the parts store. YIKES!!! But glad that you got it replaced. The right one fell apart on me while i took it off also

tlrmax, what kind of noice were you getting with the bad bearing? My year is 97, and I get this thump noise in the back when i go slow over bumps. Can't figure out what it is, recently installed new rear shocks, but the noise was there before.

Like really loud tire noise. Sounded like I was on nobby mud tires. Then when I would do a sharp turn left or right it would get worse like on a circle freeway ramp.

I know this old thread. Came in here to look up what socket size I needed for rear. Just curious if anybody else has done this. My left rear is making a lot of racket like the bearing is shot.

Haynes manual doesn't mention anything about a hub puller or slide hammer. They make it appear to be very straight forward. I bought bearing grease to relube the spindle and such. Just curious if others have any experience.

Buy 'em from Amazon, cheapest place and free shipping, no sales tax