I thought you might find this bearing "repair" story interesting:

I just acquired a 2001 Montero Sport in very poor condition (and for very little money as well). The previous owner said there was front bearing noise. Indeed, there was. After driving it 15 miles home and listening to the whine from the right front wheel, and experiencing a sense that the vehicle wandered excessively, I checked both front wheels for play. There was a lot of top-bottom play, so I ordered two sets of bearings.

A few days later I started to replace them. Oddly, the bearing retainer ring (with all the holes in it) was rather loose when I took the bearing apart. The next odd thing was the old bearing was a Timkin brand, the same as my new bearings I was putting in. The vehicle had only 137,000 miles, mostly highway miles. Two sets of bearings worn out? Come on. Not likely. The old bearings didn't show any wear!!! Now what is going on?

So I changed the bearings on the wheel I now had apart because that was what I had come to do. I assembled the wheel, and put the retaining ring on. Then I "loaded" the bearing as you do with all cone bearings--you tighten the bearing down to where the wheel does not move freely anymore (it noticeably drags) and then loosen it just to where it frees up. This is standard for all older style bearings like this. That was when I guessed what had happened. The prior owner had apparently changed the bearings recently, and did not load them. They were simply loose.

So I opened up the other wheel's bearing, and sure enough, it too was loose. I loaded it properly without replacing the bearings, the play in the wheels disappeared, the noise was gone, and suddenly the vehicle drove much straighter down the road.

Note to self: Loose wheel bearings can be rather noisy.
Second not to self: Enjoy a nice vehicle that was under-maintained.