my first 742 case rebuild, need alittle advice please

wow, all good info here thanks!, just to be clear after reading the last post...shim the pinion head first to .090, install the carrier then apply pre-load, with only the yoke and NO front shims, check back lash and pattern and ONLY after that is right, shim the yoke, that is good to know I was going to install all shims right away, so is there a good starting point for the forward shim?, also I have been reading some people buy a second pinion head bearing and sand the inner part down to use as a tool to set depth, is this a good idea? thanks