Going to be getting underneath the truck this weekend to check my TC and Diff fluids, ujoints and such... and I was wondering how does one go about checking to see if the carrier bearing is ok? What would be the usual symptoms of one going bad? pics welcome...

TIA.

growl noise when driving is a common concern at the service counter. or a bad vib when driving....to check it, listen to it with a stethiscope.

The way I do it is, crawl under and lifting it up and down. if the bearing is going out it produces a lot of heat the rubber isolator will be hard and loose. When it gets really bad, the bearing will turn in the isolator. Then it is really NVG "not very good". Even a new carrier gets warm, as do the "U" joint cups.

Do I need a press to replace the bearing? Is there a how-to anywhere? Quick Search didn't turn anything up.

A prss and sometimes a blow torch. Drop you rear drive shaft, then pull the two bolts that hold the carrier, take the two drive shafts, go to napa, get the right size u-joints and the HD carrier bearing(if they make one)(Might as well replace the U-joints along with the carrier, makes it easier to rember when everything was last done and they probably need it, and i much rather replace things when there planned instead of wasting the afternoon i was supposed to be at the lake):mad:
and then take it to a local shop and have them press everything out and on for you. Cost you about 60 bucks in labor and save about 2 hrs of you swinging a hammer and getting annoied. Thats how i do mine.:)