I guess Strange doesnt put a thrust block in the diff because I measured the axle and from the flange to inside of the splines and the ends of the axle wont be hitting anything in there.
All the measurements show that there will be no pre-load. Is this sounding right?

What does the thrust block look like? It is inside the third member? Forgive me but I don't know the internal parts of a diff very well but there is a shaft or rod thing in between the two axle ends directly in the center. If that is the thrust block the axle ends don't touch it anyway.

I re-assembled everything without the 5 hole retainers since the measurements showed clear and I would hate to do this all over again slightly less than I would want to burn up bearings.