I finished breaking the diff down today and cleaning the pumpkin, ring gear and cover. It seems to have been recently painted, so I'm going to save myself the trouble and not shoot it with some spray paint.
My cheap impact wrench made quick work of the 10 ring gear bolts. Once loose I threaded them in about 50% and very gently tapped with a hammer on opposite heads to start working the ring gear loose.
Once I had a bit of clearance, pry bars on either side popped the gear off. Neither the hammering or pry bar work took very much effort at all. The bolts are 12.9 grade so I think they could take some abuse. Fortunately working around the both heads with a gentle tap was all that was needed to start it working free.
Next up was a good clean with degreaser for the pumpkin, ring gear and cover. The oil was very clean when I drained what was remaining, but there was definitely build up on the inside of the case and cover. The pinion and ring gear look pristine to my untrained eye.
Finally, I put a 30mm socket on the pinion flange bolt and tested the pinion bearing preload with my super cheap craftsman beam wrench. From what I read 20 inch lbs is roughly what the pinion pre-load should read (running, versus break away torque which will be higher). I read about 2 ft/lbs, which equals about 24 inch lbs. I may drive the thing out to my indy and ask his opinion on how smoothly it is turning as it feels a bit rough noisy to me. I, however, don't have any idea what it should feel like. Its also likely full of degreaser now, despite my efforts to drain the whole thing, so I'll work some oil into the pinion shaft and see how it feels then.
The quaife diff is supposed to be delivered today and then I"m just waiting on the output bearings. I do need to find a roughly 50mm diameter something to drive the bearings onto the diff. The inner race from the old diff bearings would work great, but that would entail getting them off and that is a chore. An axle nut socket is just a hair too small unfortunately.