Warn winch help (I @#%# up)

I was relubing a XD9000i and got everything in the geartrain lubed up and ready to bolt back on. I started to tighten down the ten allen head bolts that hold the end housing on when I heard *snap*snap*. I found out that I sheard two of the bolts at the thread. No biggie, I got the broken threads out of the drum housing...
Then I proceeded to tighten down the remaining eight bolts VEEEEERRRRY carefully, each a little bit at a time. I heard another *snap*snap* and found that I broke off the aluminum around the bolt holes on the end housing in two different spots. Its not like I was really torquing down the bolts at all. I was using a tiny allen wrench! I took off all the bolts and inspected everything very carefully.
The broken housing doesn't bother me too much. Worst case Ill have to buy a new one, but Ill probably rig something up with a dremel and some washers, or hope that 8 bolts is enough. What is going wrong is that with everything in place, there is about 1/8 inch of space between the end housing/ring gear and the winch body/drum support. I tore everything apart and reassembled it twice and still get that little bit of space between the housing and winch body. I installed the sliding ring gear (the piece engaged by the clutch) with the beveled gears facing in (to the right when looking at the assembed winch from front). I also installed the thrust washer with the bevel inwards to the end housing. There is no excess grease in the first sun gear causing hydraulic pressure either.

Any insight?

Now that you have it relubed it will be harder to figure out the exact orientation that everything came apart, but there is a pattern to the assembly. When I rebuilt my 9000 I found that stacking the gear clusters one way versus the other created a slightly different stack height(probably what you are experiencing).
Here is a rebuild article that might help.
http://jonfund.com/technical/winchteardown.shtml. I would restack the gears and see if you can get the stack to sit down at a slightly lower height. The screws should not "pull" the assembly together. It should all drop in to place and the screws just hold it there.

Also, I would expect 8 screws to be enough to get you by for a while. There is not a lot of side loading on the assembly, it is mostly torsional.

I used that site as a reference before I took it apart, and then I looked at the pdf exploded diagram to put it back together. Which way did you put in the sliding ring gear? What about the thrust washer?
Other than the ring gear/thrustwasher/planetary, everything else only goes in one way :dunno: