Quote Originally Posted by timsrv View Post
Rear bearings are not so easy to inspect, but you should be able to rotate and feel irregularities if it's bad. If it rotates nice and smooth, then it might be okay............however, if I went to the trouble to pull it out, I'd want to replace it (just because).
I have seen some videos where people diagnose bad bearings by lifting one drive wheel, starting the engine, and depressing the gas pedal to get the wheel spinning. Then compare to the other drive wheel. Would this be a productive route to determine if it the rear PS bearing is bad, before going to the trouble of pulling the axle?