JUST finished a test ride. In terms of the gears, everything works! Tested a little 4low and nothing sounded like I destroyed montero, so that's a bonus.
now, my emergency brake light is on, even though I don't have the brake on. I did give plenty of slack (or so I thought) in the ebrake line when I had the rear axles pulled. I also did notice that the rear passenger wheel moved a little when I was torquing down the wheel studs (I had the ebrake applied to provide resistance)... so that probably needs to be adjusted. I assumed the light would be triggered to the ebrake lever, but the lever is down, the light is still on.
Also, I noticed when I was taking apart the front, the hockey puck sized thing on the passenger side that has some vacuum hoses attached to it had a hose that leaked what looked/smelled like gear oil dripping from it. This might coincide with my front light flashing in the console... I let the line drip free as best I could, but does anyone know of any good walk throughs on cleaning that system out?
All in all, I think that was WAY more than I bargained for. Could have cut the time if I had someone helping. Had to pull myself out from under the vehicle only to hunt for a socket or hammer or wrench. Had to employ the help of my wife to get both the front and rear set into place. Those things are MONSTERS and crazy heavy, was lucky I didn't have a finger in the way when the rear rolled off my floor jack and hit the floor from a couple of inches off the ground.
If you're reading this, give yourself at least 2 full days to do both. Front is much more time consuming because of all of the extra things that need to be pulled. Rear is pretty easy, and if you're at the junk yard, only 12 bolts and you can start on the housing bolts.