really your wheel bearings are not that hard to do yourself. or at least not the primary inspection. Just raise the tire with a jack, and give it a spin, watch and listen for rough spots or wobbles. then while it's still on the jack, grab the top of the tire and pull outwards, and then push inwards, just a gentle tug will tell you if it's loose or not, too much play and it needs at minimum adjusted up a bit. The bearing covers should pop off easily enough with a large pair of slip joint pliers, just get a good grip on it and rock it back and forth till it pops loose. You'll be looking to see if the grease is very clean, or very dirty. If it's been hot you might can even smell it. This is where you take a dab on a finger and wipe it on a white paper towel or napkin, just enough for a thin smudge, look at it in some good bright light for metalic speckles. From there you should know if it needs any immediate attention. A rubber mallet works well to pop the cover back on, just make sure it seats straight and completely. (there's a little ring groove sticks out at the seat line) Then repeat on the other side It's a ten minute job each side if you've got your tools together (and could save you a day on the side of the road)



Actually i should practice what i preach ; ) I haven't checked mine since putting it on the road about 6 years ago (with a new axle), but it's seen very little use really, since the initial 4 trips from TN. I bought my truck about that time too, just before I moved, gave it a good going over, even though I had the maintenance records from the time it was new, and it had been extremely well maintained by top shops, I still gave it a thorough inspection. After stopping at an emissions check for tagging it, the thing wouldn't go into gear at a dead stop. Turned out they had put a new clutch in it a number of years before, and although the clutch was still ok, they had failed to replace the slave cylinder(hydraulic clutch) within the tranny. Failing to go back with a new $35 slave cylinder during a very expensive clutch replacement caused me to have to do the whole job over, pulling a transfer case (4x4) and the tranny again, and replacing clutch and flywheel (not because I had to, but because I didn't want to have to do it again anytime soon), and a new slave cylinder. It's been over 6 years now, and over 50,000 miles, and I'm yet to have to do another repair on it, cepting regular oil changes, tire rotation/inspection, and grease