now it's all settled. got a second pair of seals that went in with no problems - seems like the first pair i had wre just too big.

found i nice way to drive them in btw.:

take one of the old seals and cut it in one place with an angle grinder so that it can compress a little bit. then take a piece of 2.5" pipe and slide the old and cut bearing over the pipe - now you have a perfect tool to drive in the new seals!