Is rear axle bearing good or not?

[Tucson Mike]

I have a 2000 4runner. Started noticing that the rear axle is leaking. I caught the leak before it ruin the brakes. Before I removed the axle from the housing, I checked to see if it had any play and it did not. Very tight. Once I removed the axle from the housing, I tried to see if I could move the backing plate up and down (rock it). It does move up or down, so I'm thinking that the wheel bearing is bad even though when it is installed in the housing there is no play. Is this a correct assumption, or is it normal to be able to move the backing plate up and down (tilt or rock it back and forth)? Don't really want to buy new bearings/spacers/etc. if I don't have to.

Thanks

Mm

 

[seoulstice]

I'm in the middle of doing this job...my impression after getting the new bearing pressed in is that there is still a little play when you try to move the backing plate with the axle removed from the vehicle. However, not nearly as much play as there was previously with the old bearing.

 

[audiness]

A little bit of play (when grabbing the brake backing plate and moving up and down) is normal, a LOT of play is a bad bearing.