This is my opinion you didn't ask for but I offer it as that only.
Posey, you are probably good at mechanical. So am I. I have only rebuilt dana 44 differentials. This all sounds like a bad idea to me. Ancient technology. Parts unavailable? Making shims and removing welded pins? Making tools. High costs?
Hopefully you are not a purist. This is the time to get rid of closed drive shaft and it's differential. Get a good ratio, more modern diff, with cheaper, available parts. Could be WAY less work if you find a good donor. Could be WAY less money. Could be WAY farther ahead.
Disclaimer:
I do not know the ins and outs of AD diffs. Deve's explanation sounds WAY WAY more complicated than Sweets. Maybe there are different methods for different years. If so, you need to state what year you are talking about. You should always state year and model in every new post.
I always recommend to go 12V, alternator and open drive. Does not affect overall original feel/looks of truck. So silly to keep going with bad/unsupported designs for no reason.
If you decide on doing it yourself anyway, sounds like you will have some great guys to help in case of trouble. I.E Sweet, Dave as mentioned by Deve, the FredStev tip and Tim's untiring effort to supply info and links......... and I'm sure many others. I see it a different way, that's all.
