New update: front diff is out & disassembled on the work bench.

Continuing on, remove the 12mm hex key "nut" from beside the steering rack, remove the actuator connector & 2 or 3 vacuum lines & the diff will drop out. No wait, it won't. But it ALMOST will. Get the 24mm socket you used earlier on the LBJs & put it on an impact to remove the pinion flange nut. Mine zipped right off. Work the axle against the bell housing ear to work the flange off the pinion splines & it should drop right out whenever the flange comes off. (I will note here, impact guns make EVERYTHING easier. I used a stubby impact on the more difficult things & they became easy.) Removing the front diff isn't NEAR as hard as it is made out to be. Challenging? Yes. But hard? I'd rate it a 4 on a 1-10 difficulty level. So not too bad. BTW, plan on pressure washing the ENTIRE undercarriage before doing a front diff removal. I'll have nightmares because mine was covered in so much mud/grease/oil/sand. It made everything NASTY.

Back to topic at hand, the front diff was removed, pressure washed & disassembled in the shop. We used 12mm (I think), 14mm, & 17mm sockets to remove everything. The clamshells will be f-word tight & a general PITA to seperate. An air hammer does wonders here. We separated the ring & pinion & holy moly, it was grenaded. We threw the unassembled differential in the wash cabinet & them came out nice & clean. Pics are attached of the front ring & pinion.

Multiple parts are ordered & on the way. Before I forget, the shim kits are not easy to find & the ones that are available are $60/$70 dollars for 1 shim kit ( & you need 2). Motive gear makes shim kits. 1109 is the part # for the pinion shim kit for the 7.5" Reverse Rotation. 1130 is the differential carrier side shim kit for the 7.5" Reverse Rotation. Both part #s do cross over to other vehicles, so look at the full specs on them to verify.

Tomorrow's plan is to drop the oil pan & see how dirty everything is (395K miles, remember?) & replace the tranny filter. MIGHT change out the transfer case fluid & start on front end parts. It was super nasty today in the shop (oil, grease, mud, sand, brake fluid, etc everywhere). I didn't dare pick my phone up to try & get pictures. Maybe I can get some before we start back to work on it tomorrow night.

Trying to figure out how to resize pics. I'll post them up whenever I figure it out.