Just picked up the truck from the shop, the noise is gone. I asked him if there was anything specific that was wrong and he said it was just a well worn unit, nothing in particular. He didn’t do a deep dive as we were replacing it all anyway. Pattern looks great and he said backlash was 0.006”.
Gotta change the oil in 500 miles with mineral based 85w-140, obviously no friction modifier, and two more easy-drives/heat-cycles and we can see what she’ll do. It’s gonna suck not getting to drive my usual speeds on the way to work tomorrow.