Rear wheel bearings

So does this sound like tire noise? I've been noticing that my 2010 Prius seems to have more tire noise. Starts around 40 mph and gets louder up to 65. I wasn't sure if I was imagining things or if it really was louder. Sometimes it seems worse and sometimes it seems better. I have 67 k on my prius. I guess I'll have to jack it up tomorrow to see what is going on. The reason I found this is because the oil change panel door fell off yesterday. I seem to remember right after getting my Prius, that someone on here had a fix to put it back on. I think I remember somone putting hinges on the door. Anyone know where that procedure was discribed Prius chat?

 

Rear hub bolt torque: 66 (ft/lb)
Caliper bolts: 25

 

Why are they charging so much for those hubs? Should be less than $100 each like other vehicles.

I recently changed a rear hub on my daughters Quest van. Hub only held on by four bolts. Took maybe an hour.
Vehicle made a whurring noise before that could be made worse or better depending on if you loaded the bearing or unloaded the bearing by swerving in lane. Upon inspection wheel off the ground there was a definite drag and noise when spinning the wheel. Noise gone and a high speed rear vibration gone too that preceeded the bearing failure. A repair shop had changed a stud on that hub when tires were put on and must have damaged the hub in someway, as the vibration showed up after that. Shop never could figure it out!

 

It has a speed sensor in it, probably a factor.

 

Doh!

I've had those moments.

 

Here you go:

Oil Change Door - Permanent Solution | PriusChat

 

You said you found the part on Amazon? I did a search and nothing came up. How did you locate the item?

 

Thanks spiderman!

 

I am thinking of changing mine as well. would you be kind enough to share the amazon link??

sorry, thought it was for a front wheel bearing. I am looking for the part number for a front wheel bearing

 

After being thoroughly fed up with the howling at various highway speeds, I ordered two rear "Quality Built" brand hubs from partsgeek. I was a bit scared to trust the $54 price each, since so many go the $300 route. If you are broke, or rich, there is a price for you. I was pleasantly satisfied with my purchase, hubs are in, all is quiet in my car again.

When will I learn. Broke the sensor wires on the 2nd hub, had the crazy notion there would be opportunity once the hub is out. Bad choice, fix was jamming the wires back in and super glue and hope it doesn't come loose. Notice another post did the same fix, other than replacing the cable or canabalizing from the junk yard, not many alternatives.
Cheers, Mike

 

Um.

Another alternative is: look up the part number for that connector in section K of the wiring diagram ... visit the parts counter person at your nearby Toyota dealer (no, it's ok, really) who can look up the terminals that go in that connector and sell you some. Use those to actually repair the connection, click the new terminals into the connector replacing the ones that pulled apart, done.

The way Toyota sells terminals (at the counter) is pre-crimped to short lengths of wire, so you make your connections a few inches up the harness. For a more stock repair, you can pick up one of the pre-crimped terminals from the dealer, take it to your friendly indy auto electric shop and say "can you match this terminal?"

They'll have the bare uncrimped terminal, so if the damaged wires still have adequate length, you can crimp the new terminals directly on, click them into the connector and be good as new.

Superglue is a new electrical repair technique I'm not sure I'm sold on yet.

-Chap

 

I just changed the rear wheel hub/bearings on my 2010 with 125k miles this weekend. It had started to get really noisy - just like Spiderman described above.

A few thoughts/pointers for those considering the same:

1) You've got to remove the brakes / rotor. As others have mentioned using the 10 X 1.25 bolts is *very* helpful in getting the rotor off.
2) I'd advise to remove the caliper from the caliper mount first. If there is any groove in the brake rotor, it is much easier because doing so will allow the pads to expand (since the piston won't retract without being twisted in).
3) For me, removing the hubs was a bear. I was lucky in that I went to my Father-In-Law's and he has a 5hp air compressor. It also helped remove the wheel lugs and hub bolts...
4) I bought this slide hammer from Harbor Freight: Heavy Duty Slide Hammer and Puller Set 16 Pc
It comes with a axle/hub mount tool - but unfortunately, it does not fit the Prius bolt pattern. (Only one of the wheel bolts will fit into the various slots.) We did find a way to attach it with a stud and some heavy duty washers.
5) The slide hammer alone probably wouldn't have gotten the bearings out. We managed to deform the washers to fit the hub mount tool. It was quite a work out and very frustrating.
6) The magic ingredient seemed to be that my FIL had an "air hammer" - it is basically what I would call an impact chisel - we were able to use that and wedge the chisel between the hub and the suspension frame - once we did that, the slide hammer became a lot more effective.
Another idea: (Without an air hammer) - perhaps if one had a good size band or chain wrench (sort of like this: 2 Pc Rubber Strap Wrench Set ) and they could try to turn the bearing while someone else operated the slide hammer, that might work as well...
7) For the wire sensor - as mentioned above: There are really 2 parts:
a) There is an outer "cover" - that was pretty easy to get off - it's mostly there to keep everything tidy and dry, and pries open fairly easily
b) the actual sensor plug - as mentioned earlier, the release is on the bottom, and difficult to get to. What I found is that this is not too bad as a 2 person job - I pressed up (from below) on the release tab, and when I saw that the catch was released, my FIL pulled on the connector, and it came off. Bottom line: It's a pain to get off, and I would highly recommend a second pair of hands and bright lighting so that you can see what you're trying to do (and why).

So, in summary, I just did this, and it wasn't too bad - but if I tried to do it on my own, without the air hammer, I don't think I'd have been able to get the hubs out. I'm sure that the fact that I live in New England, where we salt the roads is a major contributor to the problem.

I'd be curious to hear (from all the others that have done this) how they accomplished the actual removal of the hubs...

I'm quite happy to have this done, as I can now hear myself think on my commute into work every day...

 

Yeah, itsy electrical connectors can be maddeningly hard to get off. I think it's a requirement, lol.

Since you had the calipers off the pads, I'd advise to check how free turning the wheels are now, with the parking brake off. A slight amount of drag is ok, but they should not be fighting. Did you ensure the caliper piston spoke pattern was oriented so the pin on back of inner pad was between the spokes? And stayed there when you buttoned up and depressed the pedal?