It is noisy right away, and seems to quiet down after 5-10 miles.

How would I tell if this is a 9.25 Rear end ? Turns out his paperwork shows it has 3.21 gears. And would it be relatively easy to replace the pinion and carrier bearings ? Meaning probably just replace the bearings and not the races ? Install the same shims ?

Would the cranking issue probably be related to a weak fuel pump ?

It has a 3-speed automatic....727 trans correct ?