That sure is an expensive risk.... glad its been working out for you though. Hopefully you got lucky and got the preload correct. If you start developing a humming noise in the rear I would recommend not letting it go too long. I've seen pinion bearings seized from too much pre-load and its not pretty. And it's always the same story "yeah its been making that noise for a while, i just thought it was the tires"

Gears and bearings are something i'm extremely careful with. And I will not install them on anyones vehicles except for mine just for the simple fact that it doesn't take much to screw it up, and when you do screw it up it's not cheap.