There is a reason why I prefer to folow the specs of the gear manufacture of the gearset that I am installing. the MFG's tend to have great experience in not just rock crawling, but drag racing, circle track, mud bogs and tractor pulls. they must have something figured out don't ya think? when I setup gears, I set them up within the range that is speced by the MFG. obviously in most cases its Yukon or Dana spicer. I will use Yukon for example... D30 is speced for .006-.010" BL. most of the rearends I setup will stop running hot within the first 100 miles. I prefer a tight pattern with a good root to crown center mark and a "just shy of tight" BL with the pattern centered just to the toe of tooth face center.
now lets discuss pre-load. I think some people are missing the concept of preloading a bearing. no matter how tight you seat a bearing race, the bearing itself is still going to have a small bit of flex in it. preloading is meant to dis-allow deflection. by preloading the pinion bearings, you take away the deflection caused by its forces o nthe ring gear. its gonna want to push away from the centerline of the ring gear. if your preload isn't tight enough then you allow that force to push or deflect the pinion, which in turn can affect pinion depth and backlash settings. while on the bench, it might setup with a good pattern. but dynamically it would show you a pattern with a shallow pinion depth and lots of backlash.
I have needed to use a housing spreader on newer TJ front axles on a few occasions. no big deal, just a pain in the ass on the TJ without a lift...