Bearing or no bearing?

02 TD5 is there a bearing somewhere in the swivel/ stub axle?
Looking from the back of it I can see the seal for the half shaft but you can rattle the halfshaft around willy nilly.
Apart from the wheel bearings is there another bearing or does the halfshaft get held it place by the diff and just run on the housing seal?
Also is there a seal in the axle tube?
Many thanks.

It's got a seal, but no actual bearing at that point. The end of the shaft is held in place by the diff and the driveshaft on the other side of the CV joint has a roller bearing where it goes into the fixed stub axle. It's got to be free to move a tiny bit so the CV joint doesn't bind when you go round corners.

In answer to the other question, I've just checked in the manual and I can only see one seal per side. It's a few years since I last did mine and I couldn't remember.

Brown said:

It's got a seal, but no actual bearing at that point. The end of the shaft is held in place by the diff and the driveshaft on the other side of the CV joint has a roller bearing where it goes into the fixed stub axle. It's got to be free to move a tiny bit so the CV joint doesn't bind when you go round corners.

Click to expand...

Thanks, best to double check.
Reminded myself by watching Trailer fitters toolbox videos on YouTube.