Rear wheel bearing...

Hi Mitch,

It depends on the salt situation in your area. You can see from my experience that there'd be no need to disturb the shoes if no rust, but if the backing plate ends up wanting to come away with the hub, it's easier (at least for me) to get good angles to tap them apart if the shoes are out.

-Chap

 

I had to take off the shoes. It was just easier that way.

 

Gen 2, but the assembly is similar enough.

I didn't have to take apart the shoes in salt happy Ohio, but it helped to take off the shoe retaining spring nearest the front of the car. It took quite a bit of beating on the backside of the backing plate and a little with a screwdriver down between the bearing assembly block and the front side of the backing plate to get things loose.

If I had another one to do, I'd spray it a day or two ahead of time with PB Blaster. Ended up using quite a bit!

 

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If you have not inspected your rear brakes for a long time, or just checked the lining thickness, I'll report that the adhesive which bonds the brake pad to the metal shoe degrades or dries out after 10 years or so. When the wheel is taken off, the lining just falls off the shoe.
So if you are planning to do the bearing job, have on hand a new set of rear brake shoes (plus hardware, if you're in a salt-prone area) just in case. it's a few dollars insurance that the car has to be lifted up only once to do a full and complete the job.

I had my daughter do this job once with me, and she thoughtfully took some pictures with her phone to have a reminder of where all the springs go.

I guess even an old dog like me can learn a new trick....

On the Gen 1, a trick to extracting the bearing assembly is to drive out two (or more) of the press-fit studs for the wheel lugs out of the old bearing, then use a pair (or more) of 1/2-13 x 6 inch bolts and nuts to ease the bearing assembly out of the brake plate.
Try and find the high-grade hardware (the steel is harder); the inexpensive mainline stuff from the hardware store might deform in adverse circumstances (like, if the bearing is fret- or corrosion-welded to the brake backing plate). Or at least, have some extra nuts in case one set gets buggered in the extraction process.
This trick might work on later Prius rear bearing assemblies, but I don't have direct experience.

 

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I had to do the rear bearings on a salt-belt 2003 Prius last weekend.
I can confirm that the trick works really well.
The bolts can be 1/2-13 x 3.5 long. My prior recommendation of 6-inch is longer than needed. I'd suggest putting a nut on thread and then grinding maybe 1/4 inch of the thread OFF the bolt on the free end. The place at which the bolt contacts the brake plate is irregular, so I used a sacrificial pair of washers to give the bolt a flat landing place against which to push, and that the thread on the end of the bolt gets distorted (I believe the technical term is 'buggered') if the bolt slips sideways a little bit.
Grease the threads of the bolts prior to use. Be prepared to REALLY CRANK on the nut to force the bearing away from the brake plate. That puppy really gets held in there well with road salt and years. Be generous with the penetrating oil once you see a little daylight between the brake plate and the bearing plate, and allow time (several minutes, at least) for the penetrating oil to actually penetrate and allow the old bearing to move more freely. Patience and an even application of force is the key.
When I put the new hub assembly in, I made sure there was plenty of grease on the hub assembly and the brake plate to provide some small barrier between the metal and the corroding debris.
Time estimate: took me about 2 hours per bearing, most of it working the old bearing out.