Whineing sound on R-hand side of my Malibu (wheel bearing i guess

no you unbolt the hub and replace as a whole unit
Front wheel bearing and hub replacement on 2001 Chevrolet Malibu By Tejvir this is what they look like
2000 CHEVROLET MALIBU 3 1L V6 Wheel Bearing Hub Assembly RockAuto

about 80 lbs is sufficient ,if the wheel still can moved top to bottom then then renew the bearing ,and check the ball joints on the lower track control arm

Sounds like a wheel bearing

Changing the wheel bearing is not that big of a deal. for a full color pictorial with video on changing your wheel bearing go here

It is one of the wheel bearings. They can still make noise and not have any play.

1. take caliper off
2. knock off wheel bearing dust cover
3. take out cotter pin
4. take nut off
5. pull hub off
6. outer bearing will fall out
7. inner bearing if put nut back on couple of threads put hub over nut let lay on spindle an pull hard toward you the inner bearing will come off and seal
8. replace bearing/seal
9. grease bearing you can use bearing packer or put grease in palm of hand and push bearing into palm to get grease in bearing
10. re-assemble in reverse order

the rear wheel bearings.If you did not torque the front bearings properly they will make the same noise and are probably no good now.

Well, that depends, do you have front-wheel drive or rear wheel drive? With front wheel drive, you most likely have a CV joint problem on the drive axle. The best way to find out how to do ANY repair to any make or model car is to buy (or borrow) a chilton or hanes manual from an auto parts store (or library). They are not very expensive and save you tons of money, by helping you fix the most common, and many uncommon problems, step-by-step.

you have too change the whole assembly
pull the wheel pull the callipilar pull the callipliar mount pull the rotor pull the half shaft nut then take the three bolts out of the hub assembly and pull it less than hour job !!!!

NO they come as an assembly with ABS sensor