I owe a huge thanks to @mtbtim and @infamousRNR for their work with me to change out my rear axle bearings and seals and pop in a new differential. The details of the project will show up in the video they release soon.

As we R&R'ed the rear axle bearings and seals we confirmed the need to flip the retainer as per the @Drcoffee method to get good contact between the sealing surface and the newly-designed axle sealed. My rig is non-ABS so it was interesting for us to learn that this method was still applicable here. Timmy the Toolman will of course explain all this in his video.

The rear bearings had not failed or washed out but they had a significant amount of "axial slack" compared to the new ones. What I mean is, you could rotate the inner bearing race out of plane a pretty significant amount. Interestingly enough the factory Nachi bearings with 225k still had nice clean looking grease:



While we had the axle shafts out we installed a new diff carrier I had @ZUK set up for me with a TrueTrac limited slip. It is truly a thing of beauty, with every detail carefully considered and documented. Here is the writeup Zuk did on his website.





Working great so far!

(Also, my old diff is sold already in case anyone was wondering)