The left rear wheel bearing on my 1997 Civic had been making a lot of noise for a while so I finally replaced it, and it was easier than I expected. If you have to do this yourself, here’s a guide. This applies to 1996 to 2000 Honda Civics with rear drum brakes.

The only tool that might not be in your toolbox already is a 32 mm axle nut socket. You’ll also need a punch or chisel, hammer, breaker bar or air wrench, and a torque wrench.

Start by safely lifting and supporting the rear of the car and removing the wheel. If you don’t have an air impact driver you’ll want to leave the brake drum on at first.

Remove the dusts cap from the center of the hub. Because my car is so rusty the cap was practically part of the hub so I ended up chiseling out the center of it.

Remove the axle nut and washer. If you only have a breaker bar you should be able to loosen it with the parking brake applied, otherwise an air wrench will take it right off. You don’t have to unstake the nut because it’s close enough to the end of the spindle that it won’t damage it.

The old bearing and hub assembly should come right off. I was surprised that it came off so easily.

This is probably the least rusty part on my car.

Slide the new bearing and hub assembly onto the spindle and install the washer and nut.

Torque the nut to 134 lb ft. You can do this by holding the hub still with a prybar, or install the brake drum and wheel and lowering the car to put some weight on it so it doesn’t spin. Stake the nut with a punch or chisel. Install a new dust cap and anything else you removed.

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-Dan