Wow ... great advice in these responses. Thanks everyone.
I'm highly considering doing the job myself after watching that video and reading through the above. I need to start stocking up on tools / jack / jackstands anyhow, so now might be a good time.
My main concern would be torqueing everything correctly when putting back together. Just follow the FSM torque settings and use a torque wrench?
When you guys refer to the factory service manual, are you using a Haynes / Chilton type book or the actual OEM Toyota FSM. I saw the PDF of the 2004 Factory Service Manual when searching the board, would that be sufficient or would you recommend I go OEM year specific or some other aftermarket book?
It really is a straight forward job and there is a degree of satisfaction in doing it yourself. The e FSM in the stickies is all you need, pages SA11 thru 17. Print them and place in plastic doc protectors cause they'll get greasy when you refer back to them, use a highlighter pen and go through and mark the units you are using so as to not get confused between metric, ft and inch pounds. A couple of things I noted from the last time I did mine. I had no 12 o'clock/6 o'clock play, nothing to indicate loose bearings or light preload apart from 40k miles yet on opening up each side I could only measure 0.1 and 0.2 pounds of loading using a formally pristine clean electronic baggage scale. Point being your bearings maybe under loaded and not yet show any overt signs. Buy lots of degreaser, buy some more degreaser. Decent duck bill snap ring pliers are a must, not the flimsy ones with interchangeable heads, but pliers with a fixed, flat head, $14 from autozone. As SteveH mentioned, do the spindle bearings too, these are the red headed step children - often overlooked. You can purchase Slees excellent tool or improvise (I did) by pushing the axle in and squirting grease into the now open inner gap, search landcruiserphil's method for a better explanation and pic. You'll need a grease needle and an M8x1.25 ( or was it 1.5?) bolt about 75 to 100mm long to screw into the axle so you can pull it back out. You can find suitable bolts to temporarily borrow from under the hood or buy a couple next time you're at Ace/HD etc. I use #2 M1 synthetic on both spindle and wheel bearings, yep I know the FSM says use #1 on the spindles. I do the first degreasing wash with a quart of lawnmower fuel and a bloody big pickle jar. Put your bearings in there and shake really hard. Why a glass jar? Cause when the wash settles you can eyeball the result for metal swarf, with perfectly serviceable bearings that have lots of life left you'll probably see the tiniest glint of metal fleck, you don't want to see chips, shavings or splinters. With your preloved bearings expect to see smooth polished surfaces, no roughness, flat spots, chips, gouges or spots that have an obviously different finish or sheen to them. You don't want to see any overheating evidence like bluing. You'll use lots of cloth and degreaser to clean things up. Put it all back together as per the fsm, pay attention to free turning the hub both ways to bed in and evenly distribute your new grease, follow the recommended torques or freelance and tighten the adjuster nut till you feel turning resistance as you spin the hub, then back off a bit. You want firm, not stiff and that should fall in the 10-15 lb preload range, I'm sure there will be differing opinions! I could only get 12lbs max on both sides with original bearings, third time repacked at 130k miles. I'll replace them, maybe, when I do my 180k big service. Hope this helps. Ps take the pickles and juice out of the jar before you put the bearings and lawnmower fuel in.
