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You need to move the pinion around to see if the bearings have any noticeable shake or play in them. If the pinion is loose, there may be some significant wear on the Timken roller cones & cups in there. Tightening it up might make for roughness when you turn the pinion through. These bearings are pre-loaded for a specific torque to turn them through when new. On worn bearings, a person has to reduce the pre-load a good bit. If the Ford car axle uses shims to set the pre-load in there then it may be time to pull the center section out and rebuild it. Some axles use a lead crush sleeve but not all.