[dsraven]

here are a few ideas for you. this is mostly parts from welder's series along with some home made stuff. not completed yet, obviously, and work required for shock mounts etc but there are some thoughts and ideas. it is set up for air bags but coils or shock waves would also work. remember to keep the panhard bar level to the ground at ride height and as long as you can make it in order to reduce the amount of side to side movement of the axle when the suspension moves. the axle is a ford 8.8 from an explorer and the stabilizer bar is from an explorer with home made mounts. it just keeps the bar out of the way for exhaust routing etc. factor in room for the wheel backspacing, exhaust routing, clearance for the box floor above, access to box mounting bolts, brackets for brake lines and park brake cables, room for the fuel tank and cross members/straps for that, fuel lines and filler hose (thats why my stuff is all out front except for the panhard). if you are changing the ride height to be fairly low then you may also need to notch the frame (mine is simple and easy with 3" of frame remaining above the notch. the frame is boxed for strength front to rear). ensure to do some dimensions for the axle positioning before you remove the existing suspension. a good starting point would be to get the frame on blocks, high enough to work on and at the rake angle it sits at, level side to side, then use a plumb bob and mark the floor where the axle center line is or some other reference point on the axle. do a cross check dimension from some other good reference marks on the frame so the axle gets installed in the correct place with the 4 link bars adjusted to be somewhere in the middle of their range, that way you have some room to adjust things later at wheel alignment time.
anyway, hopefully that gets the creative juices flowing, lol.