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On the dana 44 rear axle that I'm working on (from an m38a-1) when I was disassembling I found that all the axle shims were placed on one side. In other words....on the long axle side the cup was driven in on the axle bearing cone until it was flush with the housing and the bearing retainer was bolted up directly to the housing (with a gasket but no shims). On the short axle side there were three shims behind the bearing retainer plate (plus a gasket). Is this the correct way to do this or should the shims be divided between the two sides? Thanks.

The picture brake down in the manual only shows one side. So It is assumed that it pertains to both sides.
There is no gasket between the shims and retainer. There are two gaskets on the brake assembly side. One gasket on each side of the seal.

Well here's the deal.........or I guess the reason for my question. The axle spacer or what they call the "block" that goes inside the carrier.....has an elongated or oval hole in it where the companion shaft goes. This allows the block to move to the left and the right until one axle is "set up". So.....does one side or the other get setup without any shims....regardless of the end play of the axle? And then the opposite side uses shims to achieve the proper end play based upon the fixed location of the block? It just seems to me like once the amount of shimming is known...let's say you need four......that you should remove the "fixed" side and place half or two of the shims there and install the other half or two on the opposite side. Maybe it doesn't make any difference but it certainly wouldn't be the first thing on this jeep I've had to do only to undo and then redo again.

With regard to the gaskets between the housing and the bearing retainer plate its possible I may be wrong.....it could have just been gasket cement I suppose used to help seal up the joint. I ended up wire wheeling it off anyway after a good soaking in safety solvent.

One things for sure........IF the 10/54 on the ring gear is a date.....and it IS the original factory installed ring......and it made it through all these years......I sure as heck hope I can do half as good a job when I rebuild it. 55 years......that's more older than me!!!!

The shims are meant to be put on both sides of the axle. You could put all the shims on one side but the axle bearing cups extend slightly from the axle so one cup would be farther out and less supported than the other side. The shims themselves offer no support to the cup. This may not cause a problem but it seems logical to keep each side of the axle symmetrical and each cup as far inside the axle as propert clearance allows.