This is for toyota 4cyl 8in.
It don't matter how much or how little you torq the pinion nut, but you do have to crush the sleeve. The concern is in the pinion preload, The amount of force needed to turn the pinion. Preload on used 4wd bearings should be between 7.8-11.3 in.-lbs. This can be checked while the 3rd member is in the vehicle and only the driveline removed, with vehicle on the ground. All you need is the amount of backlash between the ring and pinion to check this preload setting.
Rock_Star I would have to agree with White_trash that you can set a crush sleeve while the carrier is in place. But not just by torqing down the nut cause of all the variances like you said. You would have to crush the sleeve slowly and check the pinion preload as you go, so your careful not to overlaod the pinion bearings. And the pinion prelaod for new 4wd bearings is between 16.5-22.6 in.-lb. And all the room you need to check this is just the backlash between the ring and pinion. And torq specs for the pinion nut on a 4wd is 145-253 ft-lb.
But a concern that I have is pinion depth. No matter if its the bearings or the crush sleeve you will have to replace the crush sleeve once you open it up. Now if you replace the bearing on the pinion you would be changing the pinion depth. Ya it's realy not alot, but the shims used to set pinion depth are measured in thousands of an inch. So this would change your gear pattern. Which in worst case can lead to gear noise and gear failure.
I hope this helps you and saves you time and money.
