wheel bearing death

[davidpertuz at mindspring.com]

A few months or so ago my G20 started making wheel-bearing-is-nearing-the-end-of-its-life noises (right front), a light, low rumble. It remained relatively unchanged for some months. I procrastinate well. Two weeks ago, it suddenly got a lot louder from one trip to the next (my car tends to sit all week these days - I usually only drive it on the weekend, as I can do most things on my bike, which I enjoy.) It sat again for a week, until Friday night when it again was dramatically worse, as in holy-shit-my-wheel-will-fall-off-soon bad. Loud as hell, and slight but noticeable vibration in the steering now. It may have even gotten worse over the 15 miles I drove the car to and from downtown Detroit. Needless to say, the car is not going anywhere until I fix this. Fortunately there is a G20 in the pull-a-part from which I can pull an upright/hub assy. to throw on there easily for at least the time being, which I plan to do tomorrow.

I have not yet had time to pull the brake caliper and rotor off so I can look at the condition of the hub (e.g. does it fall off?) since I need to get the SE-R out of the garage first. However, this afternoon I jacked up the RF corner to tug on the wheel and inspect the area. There is no loose play in the wheel when pushed/pulled in any way.  The only thing odd I noticed is that the cotter pin on the end of the axle had had its open ends sheared off. This seems significant, but I can't really figure out how, if so. 

Any thoughts on this? Anything I'm missing? Seems like just a bad WB but the cotter pin thing puzzles me - how did it get cut?

thanks,
David

P.S. Is the cover on the kingpin nut just a press-on/off thing that I can remove with a screwdriver and pliers?