Messed around in the garage today. I took apart the 8 3/4 I got a few months ago to go through it. I'm happy I did. It seems it mostly empty for a long time. There's rust on the ring gear and open ring gear carrier. Not too worried about that as I have a sure-grip carrier and I didn't want 2.71 anyway. I'm more worried about the rust on the end of one axle, can I just sand it off? Also I think these axles came with green bearings as I didn't see any way to adjust the preload. Anyway here are some pics. Hopefully next week I can get to the auto parts store and make some new lines. I'm also going to get a seal kit and bearings.
I made an oopsie taking the ring gear off. Perhaps next time I should actually read the directions.