Pulling forwards is a lot safer than pulling backwards, at least on the ring and pinion.So what are the proper safe ways to pull forwards or backwards w/o breaking things ?
Ring and pinion gears are much stronger and also create more manageable stresses when the torque is applied to the drive side of the gears versus the coast side.
If you think about the angle of the gear teeth and also the angle of the mating faces, you can see why stresses are so much higher and in different places when the coast side is used to drive versus the drive side.