How do you replace the rear wheel bearings on a 2000 Chevy S-10?

Answer 1

Ok, this is very simple. First, you will need some special tools for this. very inexpensive, a bearing puller, and a wheel seal puller. And replacement parts including a differential cover gasket for 7.5" ring gear (10 bolt), and the new outer wheel bearings and wheel seals. Then jack up the rear end of the vehicle using jackstands on both sides of the axle. Remove the rear wheels, then the calipers and rotors or just the drums, depending on what you have. Then get a small drainpan and place it under the differential cover, and remove the ten bolts on it. At this point you should have drained about a quart and a half of gear oil. Now this is the tricky part, you have to put the truck in neutral, and turn the differential until you see a small horizontal bolt on the passenger's side of the spider gear housing. It will be an 8mm socket size bolt. Remove it and the retaining rod should practically fall right out. (Big 4" rod between the four spider gears) Now it's smooth sailing from here. Push in the axle hubs where the lug nut go and remove the C-clips inside of the spider gears, but be careful not to knock the Spiders out of place while doing this. After the C-clips have been removed, slide the axle shafts out of the axle housing. Now using the seal puller, remove thewheel seals, or just use a thick screwdriver. Now with the bearing puller pull the bearings out and install the new ones using a block of wood and light taps with a hammer. Finally install the new seals with a rubber mallet and reverse procedure. Be sure to fully scrape the old gasket off the diff cover before installing the new one, use a little RTV sealant to hold the new gasket in place while installing it. Good Luck!