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I am in the process of rebuilding my axles. I want to change out all the bearings. With that, when the carrier and pinion bearings are changed, do I have to set up the ring and pinion or can I just use the shim thickness that is already in there and run with it? I have done a ring and pinion change b4 myself and I realize that with a gear change you have to set them up but I'm uncertain if you have to when just changing out the bearings. I will check the pattern regardless.

Anytime you perform any task on the pinion that may move it forward or aft you must check the setup. Of course if gear set longevity is not important then the strategy you suggested may let them survive until you can get her sold.

I'm not selling.

I do a lot of these differentials and if your just changing bearings you want to use the exact amount of shims and oil slingers that were there when it was disassembled, you would only have to change shims if you are changing out the ring and pinion

I would agree with that only to the extent that you should not need to change the shim stack with a bearing change but that must be confirmed by checking the the pinion setting with the new bearings which may or may not be exactly the same stackup as the old bearings.