upper suspension arm bearing wear

Checked my front wheels today due to a strange rubbing noise. what i discovered ( which i assume is unrelated) is that with the wheels off the ground i can rock them back and forth a noticable amounts at 6 and 12 and 3 and 9 oclock. at first i thought it was bearing wear, but when i put my finger between bearing and hub there was no noticable movement, and the movement appears to be at the back of the upper suspension arm - would wear of the needle bearings give play both vertically and horizonally at the wheel? how much movement is aceptable at this bearing? i woudl assume with needle bearings the answer is probably none?

if this is the issue, i note that Rimmers have two bearing and shaft kits available - OEM is 114 GBP, aftermarket 24 GBP ! is the OEM really worth the extra cost?

Hi Gavin

Yes there is a difference,I fitted an aftermarket one,it only lasted 12 months.( I did have trouble removing old bearings though,so did not have the best start)
I then managed to buy a new old stock arm very cheap and picked up the fulcrum shaft of ebay for less than a tenner from (https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/mg_rover_spares?_trksid=p2047675.l2559.)
The part number may be different but it does fit and is £55 cheaper than rimmers.
I have since in preparation bought another shaft for when the other fails and will use original bearings at £22 with new seals and bolts from a cheap after market one or the ones off the old arm if ok.
You can replace the arm with nearly all original parts for around £50 this way.
The first bearing is a sod to get out, but if you use a raw bolt of the right size and open it out in between the bearing races,
you can use it to drift out the first one, the other then is a piece of cake. Use threaded bar ,sockets and nuts etc to refit bearing races.

Regards Kevin

Got on with removing the bearings today. Having looked at some commercial needle bearing removal tools came up with the solution below. Firstly i removed the needles from the bearing by making a break in the inner end of the bearing shell With a punch so that i could remove the needles ( the needles have a small ‘pin’ on the end which locates. In a return on the shell). The bearing OD is 25.4mm, the ID of the shell is about 24.5mm, and a 8mm large washer OD is Approx 24.3mm. By filing two flats on a washer making it 19mm across the flats, it can be inserted into the bearing and then turned Though 90 degrees so that it sits flat behind the bearing flange. I then used an 8mm stud with nuts and washers etc. To draw the bearing shell out, using a large socket over the end of the arm.