Problems With an 8.25 - What would you do?

Update on this thread - I contacted Dr Diff and discussed the issue the mechanic was having at determining the pinion depth. He said he has never set up an 8.25, but is book knowledgable about it. His recommendation was to set it up with 30-40 thou of shims and see what the pattern looked like, then add or subtract shims as needed.

Rather than try this approach the dealer would rather give me back everything and not really mess with it. I also found out the really experienced mechanic had retired and there’s no one with any real experience in dealing with rear ends. So I now have everything until i decide what to do with it.