Rear Wheel Bearing

Posting about Toyota's in a Toyota group , what a novel approach..!

Pretty straight forward; you may want at least a Haynes or similar manual, or, if you're mechanically inclined, you can figure it out. Really not hard at all.

You can get bearings at CarQuest or AutoZone; DON'T! See if you can get a bearing from Toyota for this. They are usually genuine Timken or better bearings, and they are a MUCH better grade than you will get anywhere else.

Unless the car has 265,000 and you really don't care that much!

From monitoring posts in this ng, it seems like Corollas have been very reliable except for rear wheel bearings. Wheel bearing replacement is not a diffcult job, although like Hachiroku I recommend that you have access to a repair manual. You can purchase daily or annual access to Toyota's on-line technical support at

Rear wheel bearings could not be easier to replace on your car. Simply remove the brake drum and you will see four bolts inside the middle of the brake shoes. Remove them, and out comes the bearing - hub and all. You might have to wiggle it a bit, but that is all there is to it.

Thanks for the replies, looks like a hub assembly is what will be available locally. Installation looks pretty simple.

Hello,

You seem pretty knowledgeable on the subject of Toyota rear wheel bearings, so I hope you might indulge me for a minute. I have a 2002 Corolla at the shop right now, and the mechanic wants $480 to replace my rear wheel bearings. He was amazed that I couldn't hear the noise, but to be honest I never really noticed much of anything; ditto on vibration. While I am pretty sure that this repair is covered by my Toyota Certified warranty, I still think that $480 seems high from a parts / labor standpoint. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks for reading.

Jason

The answer on whether $480 is high or not depends on several factors:

Is the mechanic at a Toyota dealer or an independent shop? Are they going to replace the wheel bearings on both sides? Are they going to replace the hub? What are the prevailing labor rates in your area?

Labor times are probably somewhere between 1.5 and 2 hours per side.

According to o'reiley's website my local cost for the hub assembly is $91. A friend of mine (a GM master tech) sent me a copy of the online GM service manual procedure for the hub replacement. (I bought a genuine service manual off ebay & chose to pay with a check, so I'm still waiting on it.) He said the hub replacement is about a 45 minute job per side. If you would like a copy of the procedure he mailed me let me know.

Looking at $200 for parts and 2 hours labor doesn't make the $480 sound too bad especially if it's at a dealer.

It may take your GM master tech friend 45 minutes to do each side, but my guess is that the flat rate time that the shop charges is a little higher, like 1.2 to 1.5 per side.

I agree, $480 to do both sides at a dealership does not sound too bad.

I'd say you're right. Kinda what I was saying by mentioning my friends profession was that it would take "him" 45 minutes. Might not have come out like that. Obviously when you have less to work with and don't do things as frequently, flat rate will be hard to meet or exceed, unlike the guys that do wrench for a living. BTW, Ray O are you a Toyota wrench? I've read many of your posts and wondered if that was the case. I've found many of your posts to be of interest to me. I did have formal auto training back in the 70's and worked as a tune up guy for a while, but it was mostly on US made stuff. I still like to do my own PM and minor repairs, but the only American made vehicles in my garages are my Harley and my Buell. Keep the info coming.

Thanks.

Ray, et. al. -

Thanks for the great information; I really appreciate it. The mechanic said he was replacing 'the whole bearing assembly,' which may or may not include the hubs. I will check back with him and find out. It looks like the job is being covered by my Toyota Certified Used warranty, which is great news if true.

Take care gents,

Jason

I am not a Toyota wrench, although I spent some time working for Toyota in various jobs. One of those jobs was as a district service manager, calling on dealership service departments.

Well, Now I've answered my own question. New hub at Bumper-to-Bumper $81+tax and 50 minutes start to finish. No impact tools used, just a torque wrench. A very simple job. And I'll be damned the noise is gone.