is FWD limping safe?

I'm gonna preface this with my experience having done it once before, to drop off propshaft for rebuild a few days, almost a week.

Put it in 4HI, propshaft dropped off. Limped it in FWD. Each way to work was approx 10 miles. So that's roughly a minimum of 20 miles a day that I did.
To my knowledge, no harm was caused.
Buddy of mine, also into trucks and has worked on them professionally, potentially more than me; advised that it's possible, but to be done lightly. In other words, no WOT.
Due to the fact the front diff is small, weak, and holds a small amount of fluid (1.5qt?)
I believe it's 8" clamshell.

Truck is manual 4.88 35" load D. So on one side, I believe the front diff is not cooled. Skids. So, lack of air cooling, and definitely not fluid cooled (not routed to a radiator/aux cooler)
However, it is overgeared (should've done 4.56) so from a mechanical leverage standpoint, it doesn't lug like a stock 3.73 on bigger tires would.

That being said, only 1 or 2 years later the yellow polyurethane on my upgraded IEDLS Ford Ranger CB (carrier bearing) has torn.

I am looking to remove the propshaft, drop it off at a driveline shop, and have them install my new MitchMadeInc billet CB that claims to be the mother of all CB's. Hopefully that will solve the issue once and for good.
They, and another shop, also claim that balancing is optional, and adds cost/labor potentially unnecessarily, especially if the CB is my only issue and is the only thing being replaced. So I am leaning towards simply doing that; CB replace. Not balance.

Now, I have some far drives planned soon. Hour this way, hour back (minimum) and I am planning on post-poning those if the shaft is dropped off, to not limp excessively far.

Really, what I'm trying to ask is:
1. do I need to stock up on groceries like it's the apocalypse and park the truck not moving an inch the entire time
or
2. Is it OK to just limp around in FWD, in a conservative manner, staying in town

 

I ran in FWD for 1000 miles while my rear drive shaft was being worked on

 

Watching to see as I’m anticipating doing this upgrade soon. $300 for a carrier bearing seems crazy but if I never have to do it again it’ll be worth it.

Also planning on limping thru town, my work commute is less than 3 miles…

 

Perfectly fine to drive on the front diff and in reality, they are actually quite strong diffs. Wouldn’t want to beat on it constantly but they can take some abuse. The 4.88s lessen the load on the diff internals for sure, but allow you to run more torque through the CVs, so just don’t gas it too hard unless you want to pop CVs.

 

No problem running FWD

 

No problems. Rear diff is same size as front.