I’ve heard of this being done before, and I would think with the four bolts holding the plate in place it would be fine.  Is it the best practice, probably not. 
 

I can't say how strong the brackets may be, but a search turn up those cut brackets being sold by Speedmaster, Jegs, Summit, Yukon Gear, Allstar, Strange, Currie and a host of others. 

Maybe I’ll get brave a cut them.  Hate to pay for new axle bearings when I don’t need them. 

I need to finish locating and welding on the WATTS link bracket.  Then make sure the housing is still straight.  Then I can paint the housing and put all the goodies back on.  The third member, axle shafts and disk brakes.  That will most likely happen after this upcoming two weeks of training for work, again.

MS wrote:

MS Brackets are designed to put a very slight crush on the bearing when installed, and that crush needs to be even all the way around the bearing or possible bearing problems can result.

Do it right. Remove the bearing and install the bracket as designed, followed by a new bearing.  MustangSteve parts are designed with best practices snd best performance in mind, not ease of installation. We will leave that ease of installation thing to all those chinese variants that have ease of installation as a primary selling point, not long term performance.

 
I didn’t look at it that way.  I’ll order new bearings.