It helps but it's not necessary. Usually the factory shims are a single solid piece and not the stackable kind, at least for all the diffs I've been into. Saves on costs thanks to volume assembly. They're a little more robust than the stack-able ones but you still shouldn't whack 'em too hard.
The same shims should work. I actually replaced a GM 14 bolt Gov-bomb with an Eaton E-locker with the factory shims and new bearings, the backlash didn't change a wink. So if that doesn't change, and you didn't monkey with anything else like the pinion, you're set.
I have been under the impression that the hybrid was more or less only confined to 1993 as to use up inventory, and Ford had enough left that they decided it was cost effective to make a special housing to do so. Thus my comment earlier of "Pretty much non existent after 1993", as in, '94/'95/etc, it wasn't around, and especially by the time of the 1995 update when the front axle got better brakes. You guys are trying too hard to read between the lines. I've seen several 3.0L trucks with the true D35, stick and auto, in fact, of all the Rangers I've ever crawled around, I've never seen a hybrid in person.