Mk4 Rear Wheel Bearing

[AdeV]

I've seen this question asked many many times, but no-one seems to be able to answer with any certainty, lots of "my mechanic mate has done loads, he said..." or "I read somewhere once that..."

I'm pretty sure my NSR bearing is fried. It's been making nasty squeaky/clicky/crunchy noises for a while (TBH, I thought it was a CV joint...). Checked today & there was a good 5mm play in the hub. So... popped the safety cap off, and sure enough the nut is loose.

Now, I've done TRBs before now, and I know you set the pressure on those using that nut. And that whilst they're not supposed to be loose, cranking them up tight is also a big no-no. But IIRC the LS400 has dual-race ball bearings, not TRBs?

So, my questions are:

1) Should that nut be done up murder-tight? If so, I will do so. For now I've tightened it per a TRB - ie. enough to stop the wheel wobbling. It now crunches and squeaks most spectacularly.

2) Is the bearing a press-fit, or slip-fit? i.e. is it a relatively simple job to replace? Do I need to remove the entire hub assy to get to it?

I have a 1 ton press, hopefully that'd be enough to remove/refit any bearing if it is a press fit.

Cheers!

Ade.

PS: Car has just passed 260K miles, so I guess the bearings have done well, assuming they're originals (nowt in the history file about replacements, that I could see)

[mr2lad]

Hub assy off and is a press fit..... Had my ls400 mk4 done 3yrs ago osr

[mr2lad]

Ps I believe I was £125 for 1 bearing :(

[Maduggo]

Hub bearing is press fit, and no nut should be murder tight, they all are done up to a required torque setting, sadly i do not know that setting for this nut.

[Redsteve]

Hello guys,

I had the nearside bearing replaced on my MK IV a few weeks ago.

From Lexus the bearing was almost £300 but I got a genuine Toyota part from cheaptoyotaparts.co.uk for £129 inc VAT.

The inner and outer oil seals from Lexus added up to well over £100 but from cheaptoyotaparts they cost £72 inc VAT (again, genuine parts), I also got a hub nut which cost £3.20.

I dealt with Chris Billimore and he was extremely helpful in discussing options on how to save me money when buying parts from him.

I would recommend you give his website a look if you need parts for your Lexus, you will have to email him through the site as it doesn't list many Lexus parts but he can get them all.

I hope this helps.

Steve.

[plastic orange]

I discovered my NSR bearing was slack at my last MOT - just tightened it up and all seems fine. Never had bearings do this before though, but thought no harm in tightening it and see if a problem develops. That was 7 months ago now, and nothing untoward has happened.

Pete

[AdeV]

Thanks chaps! All much appreciated.

Presumably removing the hub assy involves disconnecting the handbrake & removing the entire piece, then what - press the centre out? With the centre nut off, I can pull/push the drive spline in & out by about 1.5", the part the wheelnuts attach to (is this the hub?) has about 4mm forward/backward movement. Pulled forward, the backside reveals what looks like an oil seal. I presume the drive spline is 1 piece attachment with the driveshaft, since I can't see any driveshaft bolts on the outboard end.

Unfortunately, I was separated from my supply of CV grease, so made do with chucking some heavy oil in as best I could, that certainly quietened it down for a few miles, althiough it's grabbing again now. So... as I'm a bit broke this week, next I'll try shoving a sh*tload of CV grease in there, see what effect that has.