Fishinfooleric10@aol.com

Alright i asked a month or so ago about how to do rear wheel bearings and got some responds but i had a little difficulty understanding. First i need to know if it is actually the wheel bearing. They do not hum but make a screeching noise, I thought possibly the caliper hanging up but caliper is releasing all the way and no problems with that. I have had problems with emergency brake that does not work, but it would almost like drag and if i engaged the emergency brake will driving and then disengaged it the noise would go away (only happened every now and again). This noise now is almost like a metal on metal screech. If you could tell me some way of testing it or something to narrow it down to make sure its the wheel bearing would be great. I would like to just change the wheel bearings anyway because she has 203000 and I don't know if they ever have been changed. I will say i am mechanically capable of doing the job just need a little help. I have a 99 z71 and usually things im not too sure about, I can usually find my answer on youtube but i am unable to find a video dealing with the rear wheel bearing. Once i take off rotor and caliper is it just taking the hub off and using slide hammer( i think its called) to pull bearing out and replacing or do i need to take off differential cover and unbolt anything to make this happen. As you can see i have never dealt with a rear end, but I like to do stuff on my own and learn, so some very specific instruction would be greatly appreciated. If you have managed to read through this entire thread and provide some feedback that would awesome

spyncycle

Miles and age by themselves shouldn't have any bearing on it (No pun intended). The axle bearing should last the life of the truck, although they do go bad occasionally.

The axle shaft assembly will need to be removed from the axle housing, using the slide hammer. Then the bearing has to be replaced on the axle shaft. You need a press to install the new bearing. If you remove the axle shaft, you could take it to a machine shop to do the bearing replacement.

Fishinfooleric10@aol.com

In your best opinion should i even bother with trying to change them and to remove axle shaft assembly from housing do i need to unbolt anything on the inside of pumpkin or is it just a matter of pulling it out?

spyncycle

I've replaced rear axle bearings on a 64 Oldsmobile, 69 Pontiac and 72 Ford. In each of those cases, nothing to do inside the pumpkin. Just remove the bolts at the outer end of the axle housing and pull the axle shaft. The first time was because I couldn't afford to pay anyone else to do it. After that I knew it wasn't that hard.

Anyone out there done this on a modern day Silverado?

Fishinfooleric10@aol.com

i appreciate the info and will try to get more information before getting into this job

cleveland63b

thats like a toyota, if you need a slide hammer to remove your axle shaft you've got some major issues and the bearing is in the axle housing not on the shaft.

by the symptoms i'd assume you've had the lining fall off your ebrake shoes (just guessing) i'd start by just taking the brakes a part and looking at them

to answer your question to remove the bearing you will have to pull the diff cover, push the axle inward a bit and slide the c-clip out then the axle will slide out, then remove the seal and use a slide hammer or a puller for the bearing itself, make sure to check that the axle shaft isnt grooved or the new seal will leak or you can get whats called a "repair bearing" which is the bearing and seal together

cleveland63b

forgot to mention you'll have to unbolt and remove the crosspin in order to push the axle in and remove the c clip

Fishinfooleric10@aol.com

I appreciate it cleveland63b the specific details help alot