My concern is that the funds are not on the wallet/Ledger device somehow as when I check this wallet on ledger live on a new phone the wallet total shows as 0.00
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Your funds are not on the Ledger device or in the wallet, but on the blockchain. You can export xPub (extended public key) from your Ledger wallet and use it to check your balance and all your previous transactions on the public blockchain explorer. This article might help you:
How to analyze a Bitcoin (BTC) account xPub