yes you should buy one to sacrifice. you'll either buy one bearing to grind a 4 to 5 crush sleeves, its your call. i vote the bearing route as its much less of a head ache to deal with!! with the sleeve route, you'll need a press to remove the sleeve and bearing and install new ones each time you go to reset the pinion depth. trust me when i say grind the bearing!! saw this done and had to be done 4 times. luckily he didnt have to press the bearing on and off each time he changed the shims on the pinion!!
Saw it done? How about someone who does it telling you how it's done? The guy you were watching was messing up, obviously? Right?