Thanks John, I think I that may now have finnaly got to the bottom of it, looks like you need to fit a subtantial solid cased lip seal, this acts as a solid spacer, which retains the inner bearing race, which in turn does not allow the bearing\shaft to move outwards, and does not distort like my old rubber seals. The bearing retainer on my car does not really flex, it is pretty strong, I have now fitted solid cased seals and it looks a lot better. I got the seals from Technics, look much stronger than the seals I got from a local bearing supplier. Of course cost was a lot more, but I am happy with the end result.
Bob,
You have undersood the basic design correctly. Yes the bearings are tappererd to allow for thrust towards the differential. There is not much load in the outward direction, as the opposite wheel is taking that load. So this small outward load is taken up by the bearing retainer ring, which is bolted to the flange on the axle casing which holds the brakes and shock absorber. The bearing retainer stops the seal from coming out, which in turn stops the bearing inner race from coming out. The inner race is secured solidly to the half shaft so cannot come off. In other words there is more or less no allowance for load in the outward direction, it is simply a retaining device, not a load carying device. Strange but true.
Not sure I'm allowed on this forum, but If i am allowed I can send you an email with a simple drawing or a photo of the device stripped down,. Would this help?
