nissan s15 200sx change rear wheel bearing and hub

so i needed to replace my driver's side wheel bearing as the wheel was a bit loose - after a bit of research I figured it'd be a lot easier just to swap in a whole bearing and hub, since I wouldn't have to go out to a mechanic to press the bearing in.

after shopping on facebook groups, I picked up a pair of R33 skyline GTS-T rear hub/bearings for $50 - good deal!

basic instructions.....

1) jack up car and make safe with car stands.

2) remove wheel using your impact gun (or plain old hand tools)

3) remove cotter pin from axle, and a 32mm impact socket to remove axle nut. Many other writeups have the S15 rear as having a 36mm axle nut, but mine just happened to be 32mm. It's a 2000 build ADM S15 in case that makes any difference.

4) Remove rear brake caliper - there's a couple of bolts on the back of the caliper, 19mm socket I think i was. This is a pic with the axle nut removed and caliper removed and set aside. Support the caliper so the brake lines aren't under tension. i used a brick.

5) Remove brake disc. Mine was rusted on pretty tight so I skipped to the next step...

6) Remove 4 x 17mm bolts holding in bearing assembly. It's a bitch to get back there and you need a small headed ratchet for your socket, plus you need to rotate the driveshaft to get access to all 4 bolts.

7) Everything was all rusted together, brake rotor/hub/bearing to driveshaft... so I grabbed my spare wheel, bolted it back onto the hub back-to-front (so the inner wheel rim wouldn't hit the removed caliper), gave it a few whacks from the inside with a mallet and that pulled off the hub/bearing and brake disc all together for me. It took me ages to figure this out, when it was pretty obvious from the beginning... anyway lesson learnt for next time!

8) Tap out brake rotor from old hub. Below is a pic of the original S15 hub/bearing on the left (with a bit of play in the bearing, hence the looseness), and the R33 skyline hub/bearing on the right. The extra projection with the hole is for the skyline rear handbrake line, however it's still a direct fit for the S15.

9) Reinstall in reverse order. I really should've ordered some replacement rear brake rotors as they're both a bit borderline, but a relatively easy job for next time.

10) Test drive and recheck fit of all parts. You don't want your hub falling off anytime!

So now I have one S15 hub/bearing that I can potentially refurbish with a new bearing, plus a spare R33 hub/bearing - two spares if/when the other bearing goes.