Originally Posted by toy4x4

I finally got the time to pull the diff out yesterday. I checked both axles and the carrier unit for any other damage. The only other thing I found was that the center pin was bent pretty good. I didn't find any cracks in the carrier itself but one of the carrier bearings was starting to pit the race and rollers a bit. Also found one of the pinion teeth had a small chipped area on the contact side of the tooth. The chipped area was out near the top of the tooth and out on the end of the tooth closest to me. I would say it was just over a half inch long and close to an eighth of an inch deep. I wonder how long it will hold up?
If I attempt to replace the carrier bearings will I then find myself having to shim the carrier to make the new bearings fit or should the new bearings be the exact same width as the stock bearings? I don't want to order new bearings and find that the new bearings are wider or more narrow and that I will need to shim them differently to make them fit right. Not to mention this would definitely screw up ring and pinion alignment. Currently I just have a single thick shim on each side. Are these bearings preloaded by the shims? Mine slide in and out nicely but are not tight nor are they loose.

Originally Posted by muddeprived

I would just trash that axle and replace it with a junkyard 8.25 or a dana 35 if you wish. It'll probably be cheaper than replacing all that's broke in there.