In the last few weeks I've noticed a low murmuring noise coming from the rear. It's more noticeble as low speeds, which i suspect is due to less road noise.

I have a feeling, my wheel bearings need to be replaced. I was planning on this weekend checking out the wheel bearings by raising the rear and checking for any slack when i move the wheels.

If the wheels do move, then i know my bearings are shot, correct? The question is do i just change in the wheel bearings by removing the wheels and yank out the bearings straight from the axle or do i have to remove rear plate and take the whole axle out first?

A second but probably dumb question, what is the difference between an axle bearing and inner wheel bearing? Are they the same? Based on the noise I am getting do i need to replace these as well?

Thanks

 

run teh car on jacks so you can make sure that it's not a pinion or carier bearing in the rear itself. If it is a wheel bearing then the cover needs to come off, the diff pin and c clips need to be removed and then the axles need to be pulled out. Then you can remove teh seal and finaly the bearing.

 

How long are these stock bearings supposed to last. I have 170K on my car!

 

if you take care of the car most people will never have to replace them.. but it does happen