You should just loosen the center nut from the yoke and slide off of the the spline. If you have a 489 case the crush sleeve/pinion depth is set by tightening the yoke nut. So by loosening it up you will have to re-set the pinion depth. If it is a 742 case, the pinion depth is set with shims, so swapping yokes, removing and retightening the yoke nut wouldn't be a problem. I know some folks that have very cautiously removed the yoke and reinstalled it on a 489 case and been careful not to tighten it up enough to further crush the crush sleeve and been fine. If you have a good feel you can tell if you are tightening it up to the point of adding further crush to the sleeve (on a 489 case). It takes a lot of torque to crush it. Hope I didn't confuse you!!
Matt B.