Ok I'm stumped. Rear end help please!

The gear's in the pic's look to be aftermarket, which probably has a tighter spec on the backlash. If you look on the side of the ringgear it will probably have 0.006 or 0.008 hand engraved into it which is the backlash spec of that brand of gears. That will help with your pattern. The .010-.012 you see in the manual is the spec for a FORD brand ring and pinion......I can kinda see the engraving in one of your pics.