starting in 2002 the fill plug was raised on the diff.

So the "well known" advice to jack up the front when refilling is unneccessary?

Well, if you have hub disconnects, I'd say yes it's unnecessary, as it's esentially the same way it would be in a Sidekick, only occasional 4wd use and only then would the axle turn.

Never reallt made sense anyhow.  I mean, oil will slosh down there and oil the seal with every left hand turn.  You wouldn't want the seal to sit in an oil bath.  I think the seal is small, and since it is an "unsupported" stub and will wobble some, the seal sees a lot of wear conditions.  I think it's just the whole pass side, GV or Sidekick, isn't designed to be turning all the time.  It was designed for limited use.  Had it been designed for full-time 4wd, I think they would have used a bearing-supported inner CV.  But that's my take on it (and one of a suzuki DSM)

But I still lift mine.  Why?  I've got diff drop brackets.  This means the oil will sit futher away from the pinion, and you want that well oiled.  I'm not concerned

It's part of Suzuki's TSM procedure.  GM might not have followed suite similar to GM's TSM about the rusty front crossmembers and Suzuki not having an equivalent TSM or recall about them.

FWIW - I bought the warn premium manual hubs back in 2005 from RR.  I've put 40k miles on them without a problem.  The first 20k was with the factory air diff and the last 20k has been with the coversion.  Suspension is stock and the wheel bearings are original with 106k on the car.  I replaced the leaking passenger side seal when I did the hubs and it is still holding okay