I'm fairly convinced after some research that the wheel bearings in my 98 are bad in the front passenger side. A couple of questions concerning replacement: Should I be replacing them in pairs, or is it acceptable to replace the one I know is bad and just wait for the other to take a dump? Also, not having done this before or taken one apart to replace before, I'd like to have a knowledgeable answer to this question before I tear it apart and I'm screwed: is the hub a sealed unit, or can I simply replace the bearings? Obviously, replacing just the bearings would be cheaper, but I see conflicting information on the subject from my generic Haynes book, and the fact that I can indeed order "exact fit" wheel bearings online from AAP. Thank you for your input.

 

They should be a sealed bearing meaning you will have to replace the whole wheel hub. It should also come with the new wire to plug in for your ABS sensor. I replaced both of mine, got from Advance Auto with a lifetime warranty.

 

Replaced mine as each failed about a year apart. No problems. Don't see any reason to replace them both if they haven't both failed. Except of course that sometimes it makes sense to think about and replace both of them at the same time while the tools are out.

 

Just like ball joints,replace them both,save the headache later

 

you have sealed bearings, i have a 98 2wd and i just did both of them about 6 months ago a couple of months apart. not a hard job. pull the wheel and the brakes and its just the ABS wire and three bolts on the back and the whole thing comes off. bolt up the new one and put everything back where it needs to be.

Make sure that you get an alignment done. and you might want to look at your ball joints before you do this job. if those are bad too, change everything at the same time and it will save you money on the alignment. if you are unsure about the ball joints, have a front end shop look at it and tell you if you need new ones or not.