1983 series 3 rebuild

Hi all,
I am new here and will be in need of some assistance.
I haven't worked on cars for over 35 years
My middle son has been given by his older brother the stripped down parts of a series 3 Nov 1983.
Most of the mechanical parts are there and some parts assembled. Many are new.
All untouched for over 3 years. Now in my garage.

We want to get it on its wheels and be able to move it.

Front axle..
As I see it the front halfshafts pass through the swivel pin housing, oil seal and engage
in the diff.
On the half shafts are pressed 3 parts ...a distance piece...the inner bearing race and a collar.
The outer bearing and race were already pressed in the swivel pin housing by Heystee
(who supplied the disc brake mods he was doing).
The problem is that the collar will not pass through the housing and bearing ...it is too big in dia
by about .5 mm. The inner race fits ok.

What would the experts here do? Remove the bearings and have bigger ones fitted? File down the collars,
would it weaken them?
Any advice will be welcome

I have removed the old parts from the half shafts and both old bearing races are different sizes
so they must have been changed in the past. Both new and old collars do not go through.

Sorry for the waffle, correct me if I have it wrong (no pain please)

best wishes Peter

bearing race should be of a larger diameter than the seal collar are you sure they are the right way round

Hi James,
New ones were offered up correctly but not fitted.
I have removed the original 3 parts on both shafts.
I offered the new seal collar to the fitted bearing and it would not pass through. Neither would the old ones,
The bearings in the swivel housing were fitted about 4 years ago and were sealed back up in boxes, all nice and shiny and in their 'traveling' grease.
The new inner race fits tight on the shaft.
The supplier was asked to supply and fit the bearings. So it looks like he fitted the wrong ones.
Bit late to send them back.
Looks like I and middle son will have to knock the old ones out and get new ones.
I have 3 sons and even I call them by the wrong names. Comes with getting old.
Cheers Peter

It's a possibility that any other manufacturer of bearings might use a bigger ( or smaller) size of roller than the original bearings

Quite right, the races that were pressed on each side were each different outside diameters by about a millimeter.
So they both went over the standard seal collars.
All 4 seal collars 'new and old' are the same size.
I have ordered new bearings today and hope they fit.

New bearings arrived today, I offered them up and ok all round. They will get fitted when I have sorted other things out.