Need advice on whether or not to replace carrier bearing before trip - with a video

[MrWrench]

Hey everyone, I did a little bit of digging through this website on carrier bearing replacement, unfortunately most of the links are down since the server move.

My car is set to take me on a road trip approximately 3,000 miles, but very possibly more, on Monday morning.
Now that my exhaust is finally fixed up, I can hear a grinding under the center of the car. I jacked it up and spun each wheel and inspected each caliper/drum. None of them seem to be hanging up and spin nicely by hand, with and without the wheel.
When I made it to the back, I could hear the grinding noise coming from the carrier bearing. When I was inspecting it yesterday after a 40ish mile drive, it was very noisy and sounded like sandpaper when I was turning the driveshaft.
The universal joint right behind the carrier bearing is a bit loose.

I ordered a carrier bearing off of rockauto, but it is not going to be here until Friday.

So, I say all that to ask this,
Should I worry about a bit of grinding in the carrier bearing? I don't plan on needing 4wd at all during this road trip, but I can definitely hear the noise.
How hard is it to replace the bearing? I see the driveshaft is in two pieces, I have a buddy with a press a few roads over who I could use a splitter press and his press to remove it, if necessary. I'm just worried I'll be opening Pandora's box a few days before I need to leave and burn myself.

Would it be possible to coat it in Motorkote or WD-40 to buy it some time?

What would you do in my shoes?

Any help is appreciated. Here is a link to a video I took, it shows a little bit of joint play, maybe can hear the bearing noise as well.

https://youtu.be/_lNxJgGNdEs
Please ignore the loud breathing, my tracia was badly damaged many years ago.



Executive decision is out: I'll bring it with and remove the rear half of the driveshaft if need be.

[Petros]

Though the bearing will not be loaded, with it already grinding, there is the very real risk that I will continue to disintrrgeat, and possibly come appart, damaging the drive shaft, carrier assembly and possibly even the trans and tunnel. It should not be difficult to replace, do that before you take it on a trip. If you can not, than removing the rest of the shaft is good idea, I would add grease to it. Spray lube will not last long.

Likely it will not be a problem, but a catastrophic failure will cause severe damage and leave you stuck since you can't just remove it, you need the front end in the back of the trans to keep the gear oil in it.

Do not risk damage to the trans, they are hard to find and good ones are costly.

Replace it before your trip, even if you have to buy it from your local auto parts store. It is a standard part that anyone should be able to order, you might even be able to take it to a industrial bearing supply store and they can match it (most larger cities have bearing stores).

Good luck.

[teranfirbt]

The only thing I have to add is to put match marks on the driveshaft flange to get it on the correct way on the spline. The whole shaft is balanced as a unit and the u joints are put in a certain way, so if you get the flange in the wrong orientation it will vibrate.