The Nissan Path

Hey All. This is my first post here. I've been lurking for a while and have found some great information but could not find anything on replacing a rear wheel bearing.

It looked straight forward and thought I only needed to remove the 4 bolts on the back of the bearing/hub assembly but the problem is that you can't get a socket or wrench on them because the rear axle is in the way. Do you know if the whole axle/shaft needs to come out and by looking at it, the only way to do it is to unbolt it from the differential. It looks as though it's just a flat mating surface at the diff with 6 bolts but don't want to run into any surprises and if there's an easier way to remove the bearing/hub, I'd love to hear about it.

You do not need to remove the axle/shaft.
The replacement was a quite easy to do.. I did it few years ago.
As I remember, you have to remove an axle nut first, then push the axle a little bit and you will have some room to unbolt the wheel bearing.

I did get both side rear wheel bearings done today and had to remove both axle shafts to do it. There didn't seem to be any way to get a socket or a wrench in there without doing it. I'm wondering if there's a difference between the 2wd vs. 4wd vs. 4wd with the auto 4-wheel mode. Mine is equipped with CV joint axle shafts. I'm really not sure about the other models though.