Also its not a bad idea to replace the carriage bolts holding on the flanges. I changed mine out to help limit any future problems and used nylon lock nuts instead of just lock washers.(it's a '98 figured couldn't hurt) In the article on bearing replacement do like Mike suggests with coating the axle with never-seez. I had a lock collar slip and it made removing the axle super easy. And if you plan on keeping the machine future fixes will be much easier. As for time in changing the bearings that impossible to answer my one axle took all of 2 hours while the other side took 2 days of fighting with it and using choice language. Depends on how your machine was treated.
The feat of sinking a max is a badge of honor.