Replace wheel bearing only, not the assembly

It is technically possible.
But realistically, in the process of disassembling the assembly itself becomes damaged.
Especially here in the Midwest rust belt.

But if you are up for the challenge, go for it.

 

Mine was a sealed unit, therefore the entire assembly needed to be installed. The job was pretty easy to do and if you’re lucky it will come out of the knuckle easily. If it doesn’t due to corrosion, a machine shop can press it out (they charged me $35). There is no need to press the new one in.

I got a pair (even though I only needed 1) to have the extra at the ready if I needed it. I have 100k on the new bearing and no discernible difference from OEM. I went with TRQ with lifetime warranty from 1aauto (good or bad is up for debate) and on my other vehicle the bearing started to go and their customer service was awesome. Sent out a new bearing same day, got it two days later, returned the core. Easy. Only cost was the return core shipping.


-Spiral

 

What you've got on your car there is called a "third-generation hub bearing assembly" (there's an informative brochure about why the industry developed those).

As you can see, a real one is not going to neatly press apart like your granddad's wheel bearings.



Now, that being said, in the aftermarket parts world, there do seem to be "lookalike" replacements that are built out of a straight spindle and bore and a couple of generic ball bearings mashed in. If, at some point, somebody replaced the original HBU3 with one of those, then yes, you might be able to press it apart and replace the bargain-bin bearings in it, if you can find the size.

 

If it makes a difference, RockAuto.com offers a low priced hub assembly for ~$35