Gearbox pinion shaft bearing replacement...

[Gerard]

I intend to replace the bearings on my 016 tranny differential and on
the pinion shaft. Don't care if they're "good", they're still 25 years
old and I am doing all bearings as precaution, blah blah blah.

Thing is, it requires me to measure the actual deviation of the pinion
shaft in order to calculate the shims I will need. According to Bentley
I will require some rather fancy looking bar and dial guage setup which
is centred on the line of the differential and basically takes a reading
perpendicular to the bar.

Who's done this kind of thing and can suggest methods not required the
gazillion special tools in the Bentley books?

And, no, I do not wish to send it to the tranny shop 'cos they have
skills just as bad as mine and they still cost me. :)

G.