You guys were such a big help on my unleaded gas question, I think I'll run this one by. Got some noisy rear wheel bearings. I've already purchased the new bearings and intend to do the replacement myself. The only videos I've seen show that a press is needed but I'm sure there's a way to do this on the car without removing the trailing arms. Auto Atlanta has a bearing removal kit but who wants to drop $2 bills for a one time tool. Harbor Freight also has a kit for $30. but I'm not sure it will work. Anybody have any tips to share on how to do this in the car?

many ways to remove and install the rear bearing. you tube and google it

Pelican article - go to step 12
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/9...conversion2.htm

here's one thread to get you started
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...p;#entry2012562

this video from Eric Shea is handy as half of the race often gets stuck on flange on removal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bLWiKXRXb8

20 years ago, I've used a large monkey wrench as a drift and a sledge hammer, hammering it from the tranny side outwards (BFH method)

A lot of others have used threaded rod, with washers and bolts; you gotta use at least 3/8 or 1/2" threaded rod

Bang out the old one with a drift and BFH. Clean it up.
Freeze the bearing over night and it slips right in.

This is how I did it:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...1596&st=280

But I'm a bit of of a redneck.

What ever you do to remove it, and there are many ways, there's only ONE thing you have to remember when you install the new one. PROPER pressure points. When installing the new bearing into the arm, NEVER pound on the inner race. When installing the hub, NEVER pound on the bearing, and ONLY apply pressure to the INNER race. Given your location, there's probably someone from World reasonably close by who can help you and keep you from damaging the new bearings.

The Cap'n

Bungee cords, Jack stands, Slide hammers? Yeah, I can do that! Redneck is right up my alley. Luckily I have a well equipped shop to work in. They don't allow driveway mechanics in my neighborhood. Thanks Guys!

Yup, I already knew the Cap'ns advice when I started and my method, while crude, stays true to those points. It did fine with 10+ hours on the track, so as far as I know, it's a success.

The BFG approach did not work at all for me and I don't like beating the hell out of anything on the car when there are alternatives.

The threaded rod with a myriad of washers, spacers, etc, worked perfectly and easily for me once I figured out the pieces needed to make it work.

Freezing the bearings overnight allowed them to slide right in with no effort.

Good luck!

I know you can do the job with the swing arm on the car but it is so much easier to do it with the arm removed.

The only other work you incur by removing the arms are to reset the toe-in and bleed the brakes. I never liked taking the BFH to something on the car.

In addition to freezing the bearing, I also heated the trailing arm with a heat gun. The bearing dropped right in with a thud.

Then I freezed the hub and heated the bearing + arm (not too hot on the bearing and the hub dropped right in too.

I'm going to have to do this soon, sounds like fun.

Sorry, wasn't trying to sound like it isn't possible to do it the press way. Just wanted to provide an answer to the OP's question.

Ideally taking the arms off is the approach I would have used, particularly if at the time I had a space and money for a press. But functionally, the approaches are almost identical. Just need to heed Capn's advice as to what you can hit and what you cannot.

In my case, I had already had replaced a bunch of other stuff in and around the trailing arms and paid to have it aligned. It made more sense to me to just replace the bearing with the arm on the car. Would also work in a pinch if you were stranded somewhere without a press, like the track.