How tight should the side bearings be

Del's right about how your setting the carrier bearing preload, not torque. I've set up several over the yrs. and every thing I've read says to start by snugging the adjusters up and setting the backlash to .001"-.0015" then tighten the adjuster on the side opposite the ring gear until you get the desired backlash and that preloads the bearings. I've also had a few experienced differential techs tell me this is the way to set the preload. I've been doing it for several yrs. now without a single failure.

Mark the pics Bruce posted show it's way too deep. Need thinner shim pack. That'll bring the patterns closer together and more oval. Right now the coast side is off the scale.

BTW: you won't always get the patterns perfectly centered from toe to heal. The main thing is to get a nice oval pattern on both sides that's pretty well centered from root to flank (top to bottom of the tooth). I have done some that were in the lower 1/3 (towards the toe or i.d.) but the pattern was a nice oval on both sides and they ran quiet.

Here's a you tube video where Carl Jantz explains the effects of pin depth and backlash changes

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVb5WRUfM7Y"]Ring & Pinion Patterns explained, back lash vs pinion depth - YouTube[/ame]