[Hoffman5982]

I've searched and searched and can't find the answer I'm looking for even though I know I've seen it discussed in the past. First I'll explain my setup in case it changes anything. It is a shimmed j30 vlsd with a 4.36 R&P inside an s13 housing.

I need to know what side the longer output shaft goes in on a j30 vlsd. The issue I'm having is I had mine on the right(passenger) side and it would not go all the way in. This caused it to eat up axles because they were nearly fully compressed. I'm putting my 3rd axle in and decided to drop the diff and fix this issue finally. I thought it had something to do with the circlips, and while both were broken, it still wouldn't slide all the way in without them on. I found that when putting the longer shaft on the left(driver) side, they went all the way in perfectly. So is this the proper orientation? Looking at the splines inside the diff, it looks like it could work either way.

My second question is about the circlips. Since mine were broken I ordered 2 new ones(part number 38225-35F00). What is the proper way to install these: On the shaft or in the diff? I honestly don't remember if they stayed in the diff when I popped the shafts out originally.

Any help is greatly appreciated.