I'll post pictures tonight. Seems to me that all you want to ship is the torque tube attached to the third member (casting, pinion, ring gear, carrier assembly) that will then bolt to the front of your axle housing using said "ring of studs" Once installed in your axle housing (which is about 4 inches deep) your ring gear will still stick out the back side of the axle housing by about 2 inches. This is why the back cover (held on with the a ring of bolts - not studs) is dished outward - to clear the ring gear.
If you wanted to protect it, I would wrap the carrier in a oil soaked burlap bag and then put a couple of plastic garbage bags over that.
