Pulling the driver side carrier bearing was interesting. The new Vevor (Yukon knockoff) bearing puller worked fine. The bearing is just extremely close to the carrier and it doesn’t leave much room for getting the puller under the bearing itself. The puller also pinched a shim but I guess shims are much cheaper than the bearing. I have setup bearings to use for the carrier. I’ll probably just make a set using the die grinder for the pinion.
oh and I was super nerdy and actually installed the ring gear WITHOUT pulling it on using the bolts. i smacked the ring gear with a dead blow hammer a bunch of times, then snugged up the bolts to keep it centered, and did a final torque once the ring gear was as far on as i thought I could get it. I’m glad I did since it seemed to pull the ring gear onto the carrier just a little bit more. The ring gear seemed to take more force than the rear did for getting it onto the carrier, so maybe it’s the ring gear/carrier tolerances, or maybe its just the difference between Dana and Ford figments.
I put the bearing caps, bearings, shims and races on a paper towel marked passenger/driver and top/bottom so I don’t lose them. Maybe I’ll post photos later.