Well it seams this thread is turning out to be similar to pinion angle debate.First and formost there have been quite a few excellent methods discussed and a lot of good information presented.I can only add rear end setups are very basic and the basic guidelines should be followed.If your only doing a setup once,find a knowledgable shop or person to assist.If your going to do a lot of setups study and follow the manufacture's recommendations,get the proper tooling and work with someone with experience for the first few setups.
We have been doing this for quite some time and have a lot of different tools and fab a lot of special tools and setup bearings.We find some rearend just easily go together with excellent results and some take a lot of time and effort to get them together.Having a set of setup bearings is the easiest and best for 8-3/4 and Danas.The most important being the rear pinion bearing since the side bearing are adjusted with the spanner wheels.A Dana needs both side bearings and pinion bearing to be able to install and remove easily unless your using a Strange S-series with the side adjusters.If you don't have these setup bearings you can lightly machine down the carrier and pinion surfaces from their interference fit to a light press fit to help installation add a quality sleeve/retainer locking sealant to the housing bearing surfaces and inside press area of the bearing on the final installation.
For further discussion we had a customer bring in a carrier that someone turned down the housing and the bearing would just slide on and pull off with your fingers.He wanted to buy a new carrier,we chucked in in the lathe and run a knuraling tool on both side and regained a light press fit,told him to add the retainer sealant and put it together.There is some great stuff from Permatex ,Locktite and others just for press and relax fit parts.