Nice job, and nicely told too. I did this repair to my vanagon awhile
back.I needed circlip plyers(sears) and a seal puller(sears too). I thought
I may scratch the seal seating area without the puller.If you got wet inner
CV joints, better rule out that the wet is coming from leaking trans oil,
instead of the obvious inner CV joint.No oil in the trans is not good.Mine
leaked a quart in 3 months and about 4 k miles.The trans had 155K miles on
it at the time.

 I have to ask you about the plastic bearing retainer. It has slots where
the 2 phillips head screws go.Slots mean adjustment possiabilities,to me.
The manufacture has provided them for some reason,I am sure that the range
of motion  allowed,is such that I cannot destroy the trans by
experimenting.Especially my old tranny. Is there any benifit from moving
these retainers a bit, like a tighter differential.Less slop?

I see adjustment slots, that have been provided by the manufacture,all over
the vanagon,and I love to play with them. Gotta know, and use your
resources to keep that edge sharp.