Rear brake dust shield removal question

[Coasty]

Must the wheel bearing be removed to get the stub axle bolts off? My dust shields are totally fried, and i'm wondering if there is a way to get the whole assembly off via the 4 stub bolts without taking apart the individual parts. I haven't had a chance to take a look myself, just wondering if this has been done by anyone yet?

 

[Kibbs]

Coasty

Mine are as well they pretty much disintegrated when I pulled the hub assembly. Had to remove the whole thing it was unavoidable as they would touch the rotor.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=139114&highlight=rear+wheel+bearing

Look at Wingnut's pictures. It may be possible but with all the corrosion and only a wrench being able to reach I'd be inclined to replace the hub assy at the same time.

 

[Coasty]

I decided to get new rear bearings because the ones that were on there were ok, but they were so rusted I was worried the abs ring was getting too distorted. Anyway, I was looking at my two boxes of parts (left and right side) and noticed that each side had two different caliper pins and they were slightly different lengths. I have no idea which went where, and after all my research, can't find any info about this on the web either. So to clarify, left side has two different length pins, right side has two different length pins. They look OEM, but i'm not the original owner so I can't be sure. Anyone know which goes on the top/botom short or long?

 

[Coasty]

Oh, these "shorter" pins also appear to be tapered in three sections, don't know if this helps at all.

 

[lllars]

in my car, the shorter multi-taper pins go on top