Added May 7th, 2010
Signs that your wheel bearings are shot:
- droning, humming or resonating noise at certain speeds
- if you take a curve left at that speed and the sound lessens because weight is taken off the left side, then one of your left wheel bearings may be worn
- jack up the wheel and spin it freely. If the wheel bearing is damaged, it may make a grinding sound
- if the wheel has any side to side or top to bottom play, then the bearing may be damaged
One of my rear ones was gone at 60,000 miles.
This easy DIY is to replace the entire REAR hub bearing assembly and takes about 50 minutes.
Parts needed:
- the OEM Toyota rear hub bearing assembly WITH ABS is much cheaper ($135) than the one without ABS ($260) and still fits cars without ABS. Other brands start at around $90.
- 12mm and 21mm (or lug nut wrench) sockets
- breaker bar
- torque wrench
- 2 M8×1.25 bolts. I bought these at Lowes in their specialty METRIC bolt section for $1. They are 8mm wide with 1.25mm thread pitch.
- jack stand
- wheel chocks
Steps:
1. Chock the front wheels
2. Loosen the wheel lug nuts (21mm)
3. Jack up the car
4. Place a jack stand
5. Remove the wheel
6. Release the hand brake
7. Screw the two M8×1.25 bolts into the holes in the drum brake to push it away from the hub. It may be rusted to the hub so prepare for some cracking sounds. Remove the drum once it is free

8. Remove the four 12mm bolts on the back of the hub. You may need a breaker bar. Do not use thin walled 1/4″ drive sockets–I broke two trying to remove those bolts.

9. While holding the backing plate and taking care not to disturb the brake parts and brake line, pull the hub out of the suspension arm. Once it is out, reinsert the bolts to hold the backing plate to the suspension arm so that it doesn’t hang by the brake line.

10. Line up the bolts and insert the new hub. Torque the bolts to 45 ft·lbf. Remember, these bolts hold your wheels on the car!

11. Put the brake drum back on. There will be some play around the lugs. Rest the drum against the FORWARD edge of the lugs so that it doesn’t slip when braking.
12. Put the wheel back on and torque the lug nuts to 76 ft·lbf
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Added May 7th, 2010
Tools you will need:
1. C Clamp

2. Ratchet with 14mm Socket

3. Screwdriver 
——————————————————————————
Disclaimer: I am not responsible if you hurt yourself or others due to this DIY.
Notice:Brakes are a Very Important Part of you car and should not be taken lightly. Failure to properly install and maintain breaks could cause injury and sometimes death.
Lets Start…………..
Jack your car up. Put her on Jack stands and pull the rear wheels off.(if you dont know how to do this, STOP and take you car to a mechanic)
Once the wheels are off, it should look like this…

Start by locating the two bolts that hold the break caliper in places.
(Refer to PICs below for bolt locations)
Note, they are the two bolts with the rubber boots.
Use your Ratchet with a 14mm socket to remove the two bolts.
(lefty loosey, righty tighty) or (counterclockwise=Loose/clockwise=Tighten)
After the bolts have been removed you can just take the break caliper off(sorry dont know why i forgot to take a pic of that)
Next are the break pads and springs/bars holding them in…
Start by removing the springs showen in the Pic below.
There are 3 springs in all for each side.
To remove: 1 Long spring
Push/pull up the 1 long spring out of the holes in the bars with a screwdriver. (careful to not lose the spring)
To remove: 2 short springs
Use screwdrive to push springs inward. (Careful not to lose springs)
!!!Use finger to keep spings from flying away and taking your eye out!!!
Now pull out the bars holding the brake pads in place and take out the old brake pads.

Next you will need to compress the caliper piston in order to make room for the new brake pads
Use the C-Clamp for this.
Place the top of the C-Clamp onto the Piston and the bottom end of the C-Clamp on the backside of the Brake Caliper as shown below.
Now samply turn the Screw on the C-Clamp in order to push the piston in.
***Be vary Carefull to evenly push the piston in or it could get stuck and you will have to take the Caliper apart. This is something you dont want to do.****
Once done it should look like this….

These can be pushed in and out. Reason i’m putting this out there is due to the fact that they sometimes get in way when putting the Caliper back on the disc.
AT this point you can now place the new break pads in and put the springs back as before.
Put the Caliper back onto the disc and insert the bolts back into place
(shorter bolt on bottom, longer bolt on top)
last but not least. Bleed the brakes. Some dont feel that you need to and some do. As for me, I perfer to.
Now put the wheels back on and drop the car back down.
Take the car for a test drive. Take the car up to a vary low speed and make sure the brakes are working properly. Do this a few times. Each time taking the speed up.
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Added May 7th, 2010
Special thanks to member xtm for kindly permitting me to share this information with you.
Difficulty Level: MEDIUM
Time required: 4-5 Hrs, depending on your tools and if you don’t run into problems.
TOOLS NEEDED: Set of Socket Wrenches w/ 14mm, 17mm, etc; extensions, LONG ratchet, TWO jacks, TWO jackstands, Spring Compressor (PAIR), Set of Allen Wrench, Hammer..
I suggest starting from the FRONT, then REAR.FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY AS THEY APPEAR. DO NOT MIX UP DIRECTIONS BECAUSE THEY ARE ARRANGED FOR A REASON.
1. Remove the front wheel… Loosen the bolts but don’t remove them yet.
Jack up the car… THEN remove the bolts and the wheel.

2. Pop up the hood, unscrew the three nuts holding the Upper Strut Mount.
Now just loosen the nut in the middle of the strut BUT DON’T REMOVE IT COMPLETELY! Some RiCeRz remove them right away without using the spring compressor and guess what they end up with?? Yup, Stripped threads.

3. (A) Unscrew the brake line (B) Unscrew the NUT holding the Stabilizer Bar
(C) & (D) Loosen and remove these two bolts holding the strut to the rotor assembly.

Note: The nut for bolt ‘B’ on the front strut may require an allen wrench to hold it still while you remove the nut.
*TIP* – IT’S EASIER TO REMOVE THE STABILIZER ROD WHEN BOTH SIDES OF THE CAR ARE JACKED UP (FRONTLeft and FRONTRight)
4. Pull out the entire Strut Assembly from the car. Now use your Spring Compressor and compress the spring, just enough to hold some pressure so it won’t fly away when you loosen the nut holding it in place. Now loosen the nut on top using a ratchet. You see now why I wanted you to loosen it before taking it out of the car?? Because once out, it’s hard for you to control it with bare hands.

Note:
THE FRONT STOCK SPRINGS NEED TO BE COMPRESSED.
THE FRONT AFTERMARKET SPRINGS DOESN’T NEED TO BE COMPRESSED.
THE REAR STOCK SPRINGS NEED TO BE COMPRESSED.
THE REAR AFTERMARKET SPRINGS NEED TO BE COMPRESSED ALSO.
5. Now using a blade, cut your bumpstops in half (Progress, TEINs ONLY) I believe you don’t need to cut them if you’re going to use TRD or Eibach.. Note: ONLY THE FRONT BUMPSTOPS NEED TO BE CUT— DON’T MESS WITH THE REAR BUMPSTOPS!! LEAVE THEM AS-IS.

INSTALLATION IS REVERSE OF REMOVAL.
—————- REAR STRUT ASSEMBLY ———————–
The REAR assembly is way easier to deal with. There’s no pesky Stabilizer bar and the removal/Installation is pretty much straightforward. (Which surprises me because Camrys have stabilizers in the REAR and NOT in the FRONT…hmmmmm)
1. Obviously, Remove the wheels
2. LOOSEN the nut that holds the strut.

3. Remove the back seat by pulling it out, then pull down the “flip down” seats.
Underneath the carpeting is the REAR strut mount. LOOSEN the nuts that say “REMOVE” in the pic. The NUT for the other one is outside the car, so you will do it later.

4. After removing the REAR Strut Assembly, grab your ever-useful Spring Compressor and compress the STOCK spring. Then using a CRESCENT WRENCH and an ALLEN WRENCH, loosen the upper Strut Mount by turning the Allen Wrench CLOCKWISE while the Crescent Wrench is resting against the floor.

INSTALLATION IS OPPOSITE OF REMOVAL. Don’t forget to compress the NEW springs before installing them.
WARNING: Do not overtighten anything!!!!!!!!!!! For some reason, these US-made Rollas/Camrys strip threads easily (???) Compared to Japan-Made Camrys/Rollas.
DO NOT CUT THE BUMPSTOPS IN THE REAR.
Now here’s the comparison between the STOCK SPRINGS vs. PROGRESS SPRINGS:


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