Daughter was going on a long road trip next week, and there was a slight noise in the rear. Doing the classic road test and weaving left to right at speed showed that the left rear bearing was starting to go. No time like the present to change it out. On most Toyota vehicles this job is pretty easy.
Remove the tire, the caliper, caliper bracket and the rotor -- all very simple to do on a Highlander.
There are four bolts that hold the hub to the axle flange, and they can be accessed through machined holes in the hub itself.
Since this is a 4WD model, I had to remove the axle nut and push the axle a bit inward to relieve the pressure on the hub itself.
With a hammer, or in this case with an air hammer, I just hit the flange perimeter a few times to loosen the hub from the mount.
The hub popped right out and the new hub bearing was installed in its place -- no need to deal with removing emergency brake linkages or the like.
Clean and lube the backing plate surfaces to ease installation and the new hub bearing installs very easily.
Re-install the rotor, caliper bracket and caliper, and the job is done. I took my time and still got done in about an hour.
It will last the life of this car --
