I have worked on about every other part of a vehicle in my life but not a diff, at least not a total rebuild. This will sound like a dumb question but I am midway through this and am having some doubts. I replaced all the outer stuff with no problems but now I am onto the Pinion Bearings and carrier bearings.

I have always assumed as long as you keep the shims where they were origionally you can replace the races and bearings without having to reset everything. Is this correct or do I have to go through and reset the gears/adjust the shims? Please tell me all I have to do is remove and reinstall because this will make it a whole lot easier.

 

if one is just replacing bearings 99.9 percent of the time it should go back together with the original shims with no problems

 

I would check the backlash with an indicator while you're there.Indicators with a magnetic base can be bought reasonably at Northern tool or Harbor freight.