Of course I take things apart first and ask questions later, it only makes sense.

I have a 9" out of an '85 F150 that I need to replace the pinion seal. Yesterday a friend was over and mentioned there is a special way to do this. So I have the seal out and I'm trying to figure out if I have a preload shim or a crush sleeve, I figure the large washer is the shim??? I don't really want to completely disassemble the entire axle if I don't have to, I'm running out of time to get this done before we tear the house down and I have to start building that.

I've been searching and reading but I seem to get a lot of different answers so I thought I'd ask you guys that I trust your judgement.

Thanks,
Sean