'05-'09 - Replacing rear wheel bearing

[2006_Limited]

So the (pffffrrrr) noise got ever more present and eventually turned into a knocking sound on occasions. I still took the car to Vegas and once there it was more present than not and had gotten louder.
It felt like it would have been unwise to continue driving it like this and with the possibility of getting stuck in the desert at 110 degrees on my way back so I took it to a shop. We went for a ride and one of their mechanics diagnosed it as u-joints. At first I thought he meant u-joints in the axles, but it turned out it was the drive shaft. It showed up as a non-serviceable item and he had to order the whole thing after confirming with a drive line shop.
Once it had been replaced I took a look at the old one and the rear u-joint was binding. With the knocking getting louder I'm not sure if it would have locked up at some point and possibly turned the drive shaft into a pretzel.

Hopefully I won't hear any more noises in the near future - fingers crossed..

[CNY_Dave]

It's a good thing bad U-joints usually announce themselves with a clunk, a *ping!*, a vibration, or a squeak. Or in your case, a (pffffrrrr).

[Timberwolf99]

And they won't pretzel a tailshaft, the forces are in the wrong direction they go rattle, whir, grind, ping and that end of the shaft drops to the ground and bounces around between your nice straight under body and the road.

[Juan]

Great post - thank you!

One thing I found was the bearing has an up and a down. The first time I put the new bearing in I couldn't get all of the bolts in. It wasn't until I got down and look at it straight on that I could see things weren't lining up. Once I flipped it over everything went right together.

I can't say for the left side, but on the right side there is a mark where the factory staked the bearing in. That mark needs to face up.

[1 Lucky Texan]

Originally Posted by Juan

Great post - thank you!

One thing I found was the bearing has an up and a down. The first time I put the new bearing in I couldn't get all of the bolts in. It wasn't until I got down and look at it straight on that I could see things weren't lining up. Once I flipped it over everything went right together.

I can't say for the left side, but on the right side there is a mark where the factory staked the bearing in. That mark needs to face up.

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[CNY_Dave]

Originally Posted by 1 Lucky Texan

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The holes are laid out in a rhombus, not a rectangle.

[Jed37]

Excellent write up, very informative and helpful.

[GoonersBueWagon]

Originally Posted by CNY_Dave

The holes are laid out in a rhombus, not a rectangle.

True, means there is an orientation it needs to be installed.

My experience. Rotor was a little difficult to move due to parking brakes snug on the inside of the rotor.

Bearing rusted onto backplate and needed persuading

the four mounting bolts can help locate the backplate and the mounting holes for the hub/bearing

[notch]

Originally Posted by 2006_Limited

When you remove the four hub bolts form the back, the hub will now fall out and will hang from the axle which is connected at the differential. Here you can also clearly see the holes for the caliper bracket to the right.

I did both front bearings on my 2006 (with 52K miles) last weekend. The instructions here were very helpful, but my experience was very different.

The axle nut came right off without issue. My caliper brackets had never been removed, nor had the rotors. The bottom caliper bracket bolt wouldn't move, and needed a little heat from an acetylene torch. Once removed, the bolt was toast (rusted badly) and needed replacing. The rotor needed the M8 bolts to push it off the hub. The hub/bearing assembly was bonded to the steering knuckle and would not budge, even with lots of pounding on the back of the hub with a larger hammer. Had to resort to using an air chisel around the flange to open a space between the flanges and then pried the hub/bearing off. Even with the air chisel it took a lot of effort, and destroyed the rotor backing plate in the process. The other bearing was exactly the same. If you live in an area where road salt is commonly used, my advice is to make sure to purchase replacement caliper bracket bolts and a rotor backing plate, and have air tools and torches available.

[CNY_Dave]

All hail the magic blue-wrench!