A few questions for the T16 experts out there.

[rob love]

I guess the best analogy would be having two different size tires on an axle. A 9.00-20 on the left and a 11.00x20 on the right just won't work well.

Regarding the differential moving to the front, the armoured snowmobile (and the later penguin variants) used a T-16 differential on the front, but the designers made the neccessary changes to flip the gearbox over, thus being able to run the engine and transmission directly into the diff.

[David Herbert]

As the pinion is at the same hight as the crown wheel it should be possible to flip the crown wheel, controlled differential and brake drums assembly within the housing to engage the other side of the pinion. It will need setting up for backlash but looking at the photos above and the manual I can't see why this can't be done. It would be dead easy and saves extra/special gearboxes.
David