James, the front collar is the one that I was talking about. You are correct that the carrier bearing installs from the back. I had the same issue. A collar from the bearing had frozen itself to the propshaft. That's why I carefully cut it off. I think I have a spare front propshaft in my spare parts stash. I'll take a look later today or tomorrow to see if I can take some pix to explain it better.
Matt
