It's a torque tube setup, right? The only way to get the pinion gear out is to remove the complete rear end assembly from the vehicle, loosen the three setscrews just behind the torque tube, and use a block of hardwood and a BFH to drive the driveshaft and the pinion gear out of the housing toward the back. The pinion gear and the driveshaft come out as an assembly. You might be able to do it with the axle housing in the vehicle, but it's definitely the hard way!
Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
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