Hello folks,

Has anyone out there ever done a rear wheel bearing on an AWD?

I looked up the procedure in VADIS and ALLDATA and it seems like there is a lot involved. The procedure calls for a special suspension tensioner bar to take the slack out of the suspension while you unbolt and remove the wheel 'carrier', and then proceed to press the old bearing out and press the new one in using a bearing press.

I have been getting some noise in the back end and I'm trying to narrow it down to where the problem is. If the rear bearings where as easy as the front hubs I'd just buy them and do it but after reading up on it I'm a bit worried about attempting it...

I'd love to hear from someone who's done one of these before to let me know if it's possible to do this while leaving everything else (rear suspension) in place. I know I have heard from 'the old guys' that the practice of freezing a bearing (for a few days in a deep freezer to shrink it up) has eased the installation of many parts like this... is it possible to do? I hate taking the car to a mech for stupid crap like this that should be easy, esp when I'm not entirely sure it's going to fix the problem for me.

On the issue of the noise, I'd love any opinions on what this noise might be in the back end. I'm really hoping it's a wheel bearing (or both) and not the rear diff making noise... FTR I have the center prop shaft removed and the car runs in FWD mode :)

Any and all opinions welcomed as always.


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1998 V70 AWD Turbo 195k+