Wheel bearing replacement question

So having changed my swivel ball I checked the wheel bearings and they were shredded. Only changed them 18 months ago!

One question, when you put the oil seal in by the rear bearing there's alot of space for the bearing to move around. You can lift the bearing about half and inch out of the race before it hits the seal. Is this normal? I've drifted the seal down as described in the manual?

It's a 1991 200tdi defender 90 btw

Doesn't usually matter. The key thing is that the inner bit of the seal goes on a nice smooth part of the relevant land on the stub axle. The inner race buts up against that shoulder on the stub axle you can see near where it bolts on to the axle tube/swivel housing. So that's what keeps the bearings tight. If there's a bit of room between the bearing and the seal it's not a problem. I usually put a handful of grease in there to take up a bit of the space. The more grease there is the less room for it to fill up with water.

Oh I see. Ok thanks!

Any tips on how to set the preload without a gauge?

Lots of different ideas on the pre-load, some say use a gauge, leave a tiny bit of play etc.
When I did mine they were done just about hand tight which I read somewhere was about right...NO totally wrong did a big off road trip and by the end of it I could wobble the wheels about!
So replaced seals that were then buggered by the play, repacked and tightened a bit more with big box spanner, and no probs.
The next MOT actually states slight play in bearing! so I now always just tighten out all the play just past hand tight, works for me and not had any probs

Ok, thanks mate. I read somewhere that just beyond hand tight.

How do you assess for play? What exactly do you mean?

When fitting new I go tight ....

Drive for 20-30 miles

Tighten again.

Usually good for the next 6k at that

When checking as part of service i just nip em and dont bother checking , they dont tend to loosen up much between services unless they are ####ed

Jack up the wheel just off the ground and grip it and try and rock the wheel side to side from one lock to the other.
If its really bad you can detect it by just grabbing the top of the tyre and rocking it in and out without jacking it up.
When mine were bad I could rock the wheels in and out (clunking sound and obvious play) with them on the ground!

Thanks chaps!

Thanks chaps!