How to diagnose wheel bearing problem?

I just had my truck into the shop and the mechanic took it out for a spin and said i had a wheel bearing that was shot. He said that during breaking the breaks would become more effective and less effective throughout the stop even with even pressure on the pedal. I looked in my service manual under troubleshooting and found his statement to be accurate. I was going to do all 4 but after finding out toyota wants $150 each, i think id rather just fix whats broken for now (although doing all 4 is nice piece of mind)

Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated.

 

There's a guy on here who sells the bearings bolt on ready, 184 shipped, if your willing to do the work, bamaboy97 and one other guy, their prices are the same. Check the vendor section

 

Usually it is the front that fails first and I recommend doing both. Jack the front up and grab the tire at the 12 o'clock and 6'oclock positions and rock back and forth to check for movement. Also, spin the wheel while listening and feeling for signs of failure.

 

jack up the truck and grab the wheel - if you have any "play" than there's a good chance the bearing is bad or a tie rod is bad.