So here's my question... Dumb to some but oh well.. Can you press on the carrier bearings and shim out the races? Or... Is it correct to shim out the bearings off the carrier and leave races alone on there seat?

 

Shims go between the bearing race and the housing, yes. The pinion gear gets the shims between the pinion and the bearing.

 

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Gear_Setup/

 

Most (all? not sure) GM rears were originally built with the shims on the pinion shaft behind the cone. Some models of rear from other mfrs though, DO shim the races in the housing, instead of the cone on the shaft.

I don't see any reason it wouldn't be possible to do it either way, if you can get shims of the right size. The housing is the variable thing, that generates the need for selecting shims, to begin with; not the pinion or the bearing.

Of course we all know what happens when something goes wrong with that procedure... it's not without risk.

 

Most GM rear ends, including the 7.5 10 bolt, us shims between the bearing race and the housing. Many of the Dana rear ends, like the 60, have the shims between the bearing and the differential. This requires pressing the bearing off and on each time you make a backlash or bearing preload change. The Dana rear ends also have the pinion depth shims between the race and the housing, which requires driving the race out and in each time you make a pinion depth change.