So I need to remove the pinion yoke so I can remove the dust shield. I haven't done much with 3rd members besides swap them out. So my knowledge with them is minimal.

Can I remove the yoke and replace it without issue? Or is there a certain way this has to be done?

Should be easy, no crush sleeve in a 742.

I think pull it with a steering wheel puller

I'm more concerned about putting it back on. If I torque it to the proper specs it should be good since there is no crush sleeve correct? I know with a 489 case I had I changed to the bigger u joint and it ended up crushing the sleeve more and then rear was noisy.

Check the break-away torque with a ft-lbs dial-type torque wrench prior to pulling it apart. This way you can tighten up the nut to a break away torque close to what you had and everything will be really close to where you started. Bt break-away torque I mean the amount of ft-lb on the dial it takes to rotate the yoke.

Yoke removal/installation won't affect the pinion bearing preload on a 742.

Yep... pull it off and torque to spec... the solid spacer
makes it nice to change minor things on the 742