Pinion angle question

I'm just gonna pull it out and do it the way you said better safe than sorry I don't want to do this twice lol

While doing it "the other way" is more complex, it does make sure that you will not have to run shims under the spring perches to change the pinion angle. Doing it "my way" means there is margin for error there, but nine times out of ten it's either dead on or very close.