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Doesn't the bearing race just sit against the larger diameter backing in the housing? I don't think it contacts the seal at all. It's been a few years since I rebuilt my rear axles so I might be remembering it wrong.

For what it's worth I think my seals were driven in to about the same depth as yours

The machined area on the axle shaft is about 1 inch wide, so as long as the back of the bearing or a shoulder on the axle shaft is not pressing on the seal, I should be OK.
Thank for the pic Kevin, that looks like how far I got the passenger side in, and the one I was concerned with. The driver side went in about 3/8 inch deeper, and I was happy with that one...Guess I am over thinking/worrying here.

Measure twice cut once, or in this case....measure once and hit twice. I measured the installed depth of the seal, and the position of the sealing surface on the axle, and then decided to give drive the seal 1/2 inch deeper. Now it should all line up.
I installed the shims and paper gaskets, and made a tool like in the shop manual to measure the endplay....I'll get to that soon and remove shim(s) as needed. I'm gettin' back into the groove.

I put the axles and backing plates in, and was trying to get the bearing play set with shims, and found out I needed a lot of shims, plus the gasket to get the free-play correct. I asked Ross about getting some shims sent to Germany, but he was suspicious that something else was wrong. When I took things apart, I found that the passenger bearing race wass hanging up on the housing and not going in the last milimeter or two.
The passenger bearing race was a real bear to pull out with a slide hammer. The driver side was easy....I found two ridges on the inside of the housing where the bearing was hanging up, and can also feel two bumps on the inside of the axle housing by the ridges. On the outside of the housing I can see two marks where a chain (tow truck driver?) looks to have dented the axe housing....
I'll clean up those burrs, ridges and dents and see if the bearing then goes in easier.

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