Noticed the noise coming home from the track one night towing the car/trailer. I probably drove it another month or so (unloaded). I usually have to drive it to work one or two days a week.
I did it all on the floor (I also don't have a lift) and reused my old gearset. They looked good. Got lucky and everything checked good just reusing the original shims.

BTW...this was 3 years and 30k+ miles ago.