What can move around in a diff under load?

[team39763]

I remember reading that you could put the caps on loosely and use a pry bar to dis-lodge the carrier.  The caps will keep the carrier from falling out on you.
  I have no clue what to do about the pinion though.  This old guy down the street from me told me he used his super bad impact wrench to break it loose.  But I bet you'll get it with that long wrench and the breaker bar.

[SUX2BU99]

I got the rear carrier and ring gear out last night finally. That was a struggle getting the carrier out. The bearings did NOT want to pop loose. I used the rag between the gears trick and it got the driver side bearing out a little but the pass side refused to give. After wrenching on the case with a short pry bar I did the rag trick again and the driver side came out a little more again but now the carrier was skewed and maybe even more wedged in. I started hammering on the driver side bearing race (the metal ring around the bearing itself, is that the race?) to maybe pop it back in so I could try and get this thing out straight but then it broke and everything came out nice and easy after that

The pinion is still in though. I'll get a big monkey wrench with the longest tail I can find and put that on the pinion flange and wedge it against the garage floor while I use my breaker bar. It's either that or some kinda big bubba impact gun like you said.

[team39763]

Yeah, the metal ring around the bearing is the race.  Good luck getting the pinion off man.  Let us know how it goes.