96 jetta front wheel hub removal

is the bearing holding the hub on....it doesn't seem to want to just slide off....had front end totally rebuilt about a year ago....my daughters car...found out the front wheel(left side) was loose on the yoke or whatever you call it that holds the bearing and axle....i did not try to simply tighten the nut because my curiousity got the best of me...just a tightening may solve this...there was no keeper on the axle nut....is torqing the nut all there is to it??....there are some metal paticles around as the cv joint housing was able to move around a bit where it fits to what i refer to as the yoke...the cast that has the bearing in it.....please give me some feedback....the bearing appears to be ok...all clean and dry inside the housing...thanks

I would have retorqued the axle nut first to see if that resolved the slop issue.

The part on the right is called a wheel flange. It is pressed into the center of the bearing. It will ruin the bearing if it is removed. The bearing is pressed into the knuckle. The axle slides through the center of the wheel flange.
http://partimages2.genpt.com/partimages/698598.jpg

When the axle nut is torqued down the axle and the wheel flange squeeze the bearing together and hold it into place. If its too loose the bearing will start to seperate and cause the wheel to become sloppy. You can feel this while holding pushing/pulling on the tire at the 12 and 6 position.

thank you.....re torque is what i am going to do...there is no obvious bearing problem as yet....