Front axle & pinion seals, bearings?

need to rehab my '88 non-disco 30.

The axleshaft seals are 'easy' but involves pulling the carrier for access.

My question is mainly on the pinion seal. The yoke must be removed, and I assume the pinion has to come out. How does one insure the correct torque is reapplied? (or is just marking a line across the nut/pinion stub and realigning upon assembly OK?)

I got home from Tellico and found the housing basically dry...(last refilled in May, so no telling how long it was dry) so that may mean the bearings are shot as well. Once the carrier is out of the way and the pinion is out, I'll be able to tell. From what I could see when I refilled it, the gears seem to be OK

So ?#2: what are the odds of swapping fresh bearings over the existing shim stack and having it set up close to OK?

Side note...I had crazy vibes (@60+mph) on both the way & back from Tellico (approx 800 mile trip) Removing the front DS made them go away. There was no gear 'whine' (as if I could tell with all the other noises)

TIA

Odds of new bearings setting up with the same shims are very good. The tolerance on bearings is generally very close if you get name brand like Timken.

Pinion yoke torque should be about 250 ft-lbs. Since if you're like most of us you probably only have a 150 ft-lb torque wrench, you can either go to 150 and then pull a bit harder, or put an extension on between the torque wrench head and the socket and calculate what percentage of increase that gives you over the indicated reading.